Under siege Telstra, has moved to deflect the debate over the actual size of their network by rolling out what the Company claims is a three-layered business plan, aimed at better customer engagement which could lead to another round of price gouging.

The carrier who has recently racked up prices including for their mobile and NBN broadband plans, has rolled out a new plain aimed at lifting their return targets at the big carrier to 10% by fiscal 2030.

Currently sitting at 8% the new five-year strategy is being rolled out to investors today in Sydney with questions set to be asked around the size of their network and the fall out after arch rival Vodafone owner TPG, had accused Telstra of overstating its coverage claims by about one million square kilometres, based on an analysis of coverage maps Telstra supplied to the competition regulator.

The telco group wants underlying income to rise faster than costs and is aiming for mid-single digit growth in annual cash earnings over the next five years which could mean series of price rises for consumers on top of the recent price rises.

Telstra who has reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance for underlying EBITDA of between $8.5 billion and $8.7 billion.

According to the Australian a government audit of mobile phone coverage reveals that there are swathes of Australia where a Telstra signal can only be accessed with an external antenna, in an apparent contradiction to the telco’s revised claims with the carrier accused of lying about the size of their mobile network.

Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady said in an opinion piece published in The Australian on Monday that “rigorous” testing in the past week showed that its claim of providing three million square kilometres of coverage was “right all along”.

This is despite a $20m audit of the nation’s mobile coverage – which the federal government commissioned consultancy firm Accenture and Australia Post to complete revealing that  there were wide stretches of Australian highways where no Telstra signal can be received without using an external antenna.

The audit involves drive testing around 180,000 kilometres of regional and rural roads every year for three years.

It began in May 2024 and is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2027.

Recent tests on the Hume and Pacific Highways be Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane and Sydney reveals that there are constant drop outs and often no signal on the Telstra network.