Telstra, having experienced a number of network outages this year, is set to invest $250 million over the next six-to-12 months to provide greater network resilience and improved network performance.Telstra CEO Andrew Penn has today advised via a blog post that the telco will be making the investment, having previously announced the results of a review of its mobile network in May.
Penn has advised that Telstra is “very advanced in implementing the recommendations from that review”.
“We have also recently completed an end-to-end review of our core network and IT systems, pinpointing sources of potential risk,” he writes.
“As a result of this work, we will be investing $250 million from our existing capital program, within our 15 per cent capex-to-sales ratio, over the next six-to-12 months to provide a higher degree of network resilience and improved network performance.”
Penn advised that the investment will focus on three key areas, including enhancing the mobile network’s resiliency, improving recovery time and creating more effective real-time monitoring.
Improving reliability and resiliency within the core network is another key area for the telco, along with increasing current ADSL broadband capacity in meeting increasing customer demand.
In the wake of its network problems this year, Telstra has suffered backlash from users via social media.
The telco has also held two free data days following outages, the most recent of which was at the beginning of April.
Penn writes that he is committed to strengthening Telstra’s network.
“What I am committed to though is continuing to invest in building the durability and capability of our network, and in our ability to respond quickly if things do go wrong to minimise the impact on customers,” he writes.
With Telstra looking to the “network of the future”, Penn also advises that the investment “is an important step in building the platform for these plans”, which he writes will be shared later in the year.
