Telstra hopes NBN will bring in $3b over three years

Telstra hopes the National Broadband Network (NBN) will bring in up to $3 billion in new revenue over the next three years, chief financial officer Andrew Penn says.

But Penn said Telstra does not expect to increase dividends until 2014.

“Our preference for returning capital to shareholders is via growth in franked dividends. However, we do not expect to have the franking capacity to increase the dividend before 2014,” he says.

Telstra will earn about $11 billion over the next decade from its deal with the NBN. Its share price has gained about 30% since 2010.

‘‘The payments and benefits received under the NBN transaction, which are implicit in the $11 billion of post-tax net present value, are expected to help offset the reduction in free cashflow from the fixed line business,’’ Penn said.

Telstra CEO David Thodey said the company intendd to pay a 28 cent per share fully-franked dividend in 2012 and 2013.