The telecommunications giant has acquired the specialist pre-paid mobile phone business for $140 million. The former prime minister owns 29 per cent.

Telstra has today announced that it has acquired one of the most popular Telco brands, Boost Mobile. Boost Mobile has grown in popularity over the years for its fantastic value for money plans that benefit from already being on the Telstra network,

Telstra has paid $140 million to buy out Boost Mobile on Monday. Boost started almost 25 years ago and is one of the only resellers of Telstra's entire capital city and regional network. Boost was bought out by US mobile company Nextel,

Sources close to the telco said Boost Mobile’s acquisition price was around $140 million, which did not include a meaningful deferred payment.

Boost was the brains behind the branding and marketing. Now, it'll be integrated with Telstra and work as a "standalone team focused on continuing to deliver the Boost branded experience". It makes sense, as Telstra explains in the media release, that the telco giant is focusing on a multi-brand strategy.

Boost Mobile services the prepaid mobile market and, in contrast to other MVNOs, operates on Telstra's entire mobile network while others utilise just its wholesale network. iTnews understands that Telstra paid roughly $100 million all-cash for Boost.

Boost Mobile, with the telco claiming it will consolidate the business under its own roof. The acquisition sees Telstra pick up more responsibility for Boost and is expected to be completed later this month.

Paul Keating is set to reap a payday of at least $30m after Telstra agreed to buy Boost Mobile to sell more budget prepaid plans amid a cost of living crunch.