Telstra claims 2.8 million 4G devices as 287,000 more people abandon fixed phone lines

Telstra now claims around 2.8 million devices use its 4G network, as 287,000 abandoned its fixed line services over the past fiscal year.

The telco giant’s total income for fiscal year 2013 is up 1.9 % year-on-year to $26 billion, with overall net profit after tax is up 12.9 %to $3.9 billion,

The number of 4G devices has accelerated since May, when the company claimed 2.1 million devices, which in turn was up from 1.5 million in February.

It’s worth noting, however, the 1.5 million figure included 1.4 million handsets and 150,000 tablets, with the company counting each device as a “customer”.

“We have been able to deliver the third consecutive year of significant customer growth as a result of our focus on improving customer service as well as continued investment in the network,” chief executive David Thodey said.

“We invested $1.2 billion in our mobile network during the year to deliver on this. This investment includes expanding the reach of our 4G network which now covers 66%of the population and is on target to reach 85% by the end of the year.”

However, over the past fiscal year its number of fixed line subscribers fell by 3.6% – or 287,000 in total – to 7.8 million with revenues down by 9.5%.

The company now claims a total of 15.1 million mobile customers, although this figure again includes both mobile broadband and mobile phone customers.

Telstra claims to have added a total of 1.3 million mobile customers over the past financial year, including 452,000 mobile broadband customers and 423,000 post-paid handheld customers.

It also added 173,000 fixed retail broadband customers (a total of 2.8 million) and 238,000 bundled customers (a total of 1.6 million).