Australia must slash red tape and open up mobile spectrum to meet the needs of the AI revolution, the head of the nation's biggest telco warns.

Building digital infrastructure will be essential to supporting the rollout of artificial intelligence, Telstra boss Vicki Brady told the National Press Club in Canberra.

But the telecommunications sector was being hampered by more than 500 pieces of legislation and regulation, she said on Wednesday.

Backing Treasurer Jim Chalmers' push to remove unnecessary red tape and lift productivity, Ms Brady urged the government to keep cutting away clutter and develop a national digital infrastructure plan.

Telcos had helped drive the internet boom by placing big bets on capital-intensive digital infrastructure in the expectation it would deliver strong

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