Telstra warns on mobile growth

Telstra chief executive (TLS) David Thodey has warned the telco's sharp rise in mobile subscriber growth with taper off in the coming year as rivals Optus and Vodafone continue to make inroads in the market, The Australian Financial Review reports.

According to the newspaper, Mr Thodey said while he remains optimistic of growth over the next two to three years, he doesn't expect it to be at the same level as in previous years.

"My view on the market firstly is that there will continue to be growth in the market as people use wearables and some will have SIM cards in them," he said.

The AFR reports Mr Thodey also expressed concern about the usefulness of the average revenue per user (ARPU) statistic in determining the profitability of mobile customers.

"ARPU was a very good measure when you were looking at voice and data services," he said. "What we really look at is revenue and profit growth ... and cash generation so that’s probably more interesting as we go forward."