Telstra reported its annual financial results, with the company’s board deciding to reduce compensation for senior leadership in response to a significant network disruption that occurred in July. Chief Executive Vicki Brady’s total remuneration reached $6.8m, representing a substantial increase from the prior year despite the bonus reduction of approximately $607,000. The company also reduced bonuses for other senior executives, cutting their combined pay by $1.3m across the organization.
The nationwide outage affected approximately half of all calls and data sessions on Telstra’s network before being identified and resolved. The company attributed the incident to a missing software update on a critical timekeeping system and faced considerable political scrutiny regarding its response and handling of the disruption. Brady acknowledged during investor communications that the company had “let our customers down” and stated that Telstra had assumed full accountability for the incident. The organization has been working with external experts to complete its investigation and has committed to transparency regarding findings and corrective measures.
On the compensation front, Telstra reported receiving over 30,000 customer claims related to the outage. The company indicated it had distributed nearly $1m in compensation to eligible customers and was continuing to assess additional claims. Financial outcomes and potential costs associated with regulatory action remain uncertain at this stage, according to company statements.
Telstra’s overall financial performance showed profit growth to $2.4bn from $2.3bn in the previous year. The company grew its mobile subscriber base by 1m services despite implementing multiple price increases during the period, with mobile income rising $300m to $11.3bn. Growth was primarily driven through wholesale partnerships with retailers and prepaid offerings, as the company experienced a decline of 7,000 postpaid subscribers directly through Telstra. The company employed 29,334 people by the end of June, reflecting a reduction of 1,219 positions over the year.
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