Telstra eyes acquisitions and upgrades beyond NBN
With the National Broadband Network almost a certainty and giant telco firm Telstra Corporation required by law to put its copper-wire network out of service to make way for the fibre optics system to be rolled out under the NBN project, Australia's leading telecommunication provider appears to be graciously moving on.
Telstra chief executive David Thodey told Bloomberg on Friday that it may have to utilise the $11 billion compensation it is set to get from the Australian government for new acquisition plans in Asia, with some plans of adopting fresher technologies that would further enhance the firm's offerings.
Once the NBN roll out would have been completed in 2018, Telstra would not only lose its own network but also would find itself fiercely competing in leasing telecommunication infrastructures from the federal government, which would be fronted by NBN Co.
Telstra admitted that such scenario could offer more competition especially from its closest rival Optus and Vodafone but Mr Thodey remains upbeat on the company's outlook as he stressed that the compensation tossed by the government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard should deliver sufficient flexibility for the company.
From there, the Telstra boss said that they need to move on and focus on generating more revenue sources and profit attractions for the business being offered by the company.
The federal government gained the necessary Senate votes on Friday to push forward its program of partitioning Telstra's wholesale and retail divisions and set the stage for the total implementation of NBN.
The NBN legislation also calls for the billion-dollar compensations, which according to Mr Thodey would be used to fund expansions, share buybacks, dividend payments and some necessary upgrades for Telstra's technological capabilities.
At present, the telco firm operates CSL New Word Mobility in Hong Kong, which is the Chinese administrative region's second largest mobile services provider.
Telstra is set to collect the $11 billion compensation over a 10-year period, which the Australian government has facilitated to cover the telco's anticipated revenue losses form the projected decline of its landline services once the $37.5 billion NBN project reaches its last stage of implementation eight years from now.