A quickening pace in mobile subscriber net additions helped the Telstra Group boost sales and profits for the first half of its 2014 fiscal year (six months ended 31 December 2013).

The number of retail net additions during the period reached 739,000, taking its total mobile customer base in Australia to 15.8 million.

Of that increase, 102,000 customers signed up to mobile broadband packages

The rise in subscriber numbers helped Telstra increase mobile revenue by 6.4 per cent, year-on-year, to AUD4.86 billion ($4.35 billion), although ARPU remained steady at AUD58.81.

Mobile makes up over a third of group revenue. Its growth helped offset a 1.5 per cent decline in fixed-line sales, to AUD3.6 billion.

Overall group turnover during H1 2014 was AUD12.56 billion, up 3.6 per cent from the same period the year before. Group net profits were up 9.7 per cent, to AUD1.74 billion.

CEO David Thodey (pictured) claimed Telstra has one of the fastest take-up of 4G services anywhere in the world.

He added that Telstra would continue to invest in “maintaining its network leadership”.

The operator spent AUD650 million on mobile infrastructure during H1 2014.The investment included an upgrade of 1,500 mobile base stations to 4G. Telstra now has 3,500 4G mobile base stations across Australia. Thodey claimed Telstra, with 85 per cent population coverage, has “four times the 4G coverage area of any other company”.

In terms of mobile connections, Telstra is also well ahead of its network rivals. According to GSMA Intelligence, second-placed Optus (controlled by SingTel) had an estimated 9.5 million connections by the end of 2013. Vodafone Hutchison had 5.7 million.

And Telstra’s 739,000 jump in retail net additions is a big improvement on H2 2013 (649,000) and H1 2013 (608,000).

The operator said it had now sold over 4.1 million 4G devices, comprising 2.9 million handsets and over 400,000 each of dongles, Wi-Fi hotspots and tablets.

Telstra also got a boost from its international and NAS (networks and applications services) businesses.

Helped by a strong performance at Hong Kong’s CSL – in which Telstra has agreed to sell its 76.4 per cent stake to HKT Limited – international revenues grew by 28.3 per cent, to AUD1.1 billion.

NAS sales grew by 29.3 per cent, to AUD821 million.

However, Telstra group operating expenses increased by 2.1 per cent in the first half, to AUD7.5 billion, largely driven by costs supporting revenue growth.

Telstra confirmed fiscal 2014 guidance of low single-digit total income and EBITDA growth, with free cash-flow between AUD4.6 billion and AUD5.1 billion.

Telstra expects accrued capital expenditure to be around 15 per cent of sales.