Australian telco Telstra is looking to spend at most $1 billion if their talks with local food and beverage giant San Miguel pushes through.

Speaking with its investors during their annual investor day, Telstra chief Andy Penn outlined their plan if their talks with San Miguel bears fruit.

“We are not expecting it to be more than $1 billion. That would be essentially Telstra’s equity investment. We could own 40 per cent of the venture which would also have external financing as well,” Mr Penn said.

During the same event, the CEO also expressed his confidence in the expansion if it ever pushed through, citing the weakness of the current duopoly of PLDT and Globe.

“Frankly, let’s face it, go to the Philippines and experience the lousy service you get from the incumbent operators and you will see that the opportunity for a new operator to provide a much better quality of service. I think there’s significant opportunity. Of course any new venture comes with its level of risk is why we are being considered and measured,” he said.

“The Philippine market from a mobile perspective is interesting because there are only two incumbent operators. The EBITDA margins in the Philippines are relatively strong and were we to complete a deal, the partner is a very strong one”, he adds.

While there’s strong support for Telstra’s move to the PH, there’s still no concrete evidence of Telstra’s possible mobile plans currently.

The Australian telco offers multiple capped, tiered plans in the areas where they operate, which also include fixed lines.