Most recently, in August this year, Telstra announced plans to double its 4G coverage in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to reach 66 per cent of the population, up from 40 per cent.

As part of the expansion, Telstra said it would install more than 1000 new mobile base stations by mid-next year, following the upgrade of more than 5000 mobile base stations in the previous 12 months. "Once the network expansion is complete, Telstra 4G will cover even more of Australia's highest population centres. For instance, coverage will stretch out in a 10-15 kilometre radius from the Sydney GPO and a 15-20 kilometre radius from the Melbourne GPO," Brendon Riley, chief operations officer at Telstra, said in a statement. "Our investment is geared towards sustaining our network reach and performance for all our existing and potential new customers -- particularly anyone looking to trade up to a 4G device."