Maher said the company was prepared to spend up to "hundreds of millions of dollars" over the next two years on the development of a globally compatible third-generation network, which would be available to customers by mid-2005.
However, the exact scale of the investment would depend on whether the company would be able to forge partnership agreements and what proportion of the Australian market those agreements would encompass.
"Due to the sheer scale, geography and nature of the Australian market, at this stage we feel that a partnership will be the most effective way for us to deliver third-generation based services to our customers," Maher said.
In an earlier interview with ZDNet Australia , Maher indicated one model under consideration was establishing its own third-generation mobile network in capital cities while partnering for the delivery of services elsewhere. He told ZDNet Australia that a key focus was the delivery of third-generation services to the key east coast population centres of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
Maher said the company had attracted more than 33,000 customers to its existing Vodafone Live two-and-a-half generation service, which it launched in April this year.
Maher downplayed suggestions the company was interested in partnering with Hutchison Telecommunications, which is investing AU$3 billion in the delivery of third-generation services throughout Australia.
He said the company was in negotiations with a number of suppliers and negotiations had progressed further with some of those than they had with Hutchison, which was focused heavily on building its own services.
"We are currently in discussion with a number of carriers regarding a partnership arrangement, however if this isn't viable we have the required finance in place to go it alone," Maher said in a statement.
Vodafone Australia is teaming up with Vodafone New Zealand -- which has a similar time-frame for third-generation availability -- for a joint vendor selection.
Maher said the telecommunications player viewed 2005 as a date by which third-generation handsets would be more cost-effective and useable, while the services themselves would be more mature.
