Telstra says it is comfortably positioned to make acquisitions in Asia to meet its five-year expansion target without upsetting its balance sheet.
"It is clear there'll be a series of investments ahead of us that we can make, and we know we have the capacity to do within our current cashflows, without unsettling the balance sheet," chief executive Ziggy Switkowski told reporters.
Telstra has said it aimed to make Asian business the source of 25 percent of the Australian group's value within five years, and Switkowski estimated the company was about one-third of the way towards its target through its joint ventures with Pacific Century CyberWorks.
Switkowski said if PCCW, under fire in the market, decided to alter its ownership role in those joint ventures, it would not affect Telstra.
"But if PCCW were to make alternative decisions, we would continue to own 60 percent of the (wireless) business and with hubert (Ng) help run it, and we would be largely unaffected," he said.
