Telstra, a leading telecom operator in Australia, has revealed its financial results and main achievements during fiscal 2024.
Telstra has more than 26 million customers who are using mobile services including IoT. In addition, Telstra has more than 3 million households with fixed services.
Telstra said its revenue rose 1 percent to A$23.5 billion for the 12-months period that ended on 30 June, 2024.
Telstra has reported revenue of $4.4 billion from fixed line – C&SB business, registering decrease of 2.2 percent.
Telstra has generated revenue of $3.5 billion from fixed line – enterprise business, registering decrease of 5 percent.
Telstra has posted revenue of $2.6 billion from International business, registering 6 percent increase.
Telstra added 560,000 new mobile phone customers to its network, representing 4.1 percent increase. Mobile services revenue grew by 5.6 percent to $10.7 billion. ARPU rose 2.7 percent.
At present, 54 percent of traffic is on 5G network. Telstra says its 5G network will power 80 percent of the traffic as per its T25 strategy. Telstra aims to double metro cell sites by FY25 to densify the mobile network. Telstra has extended the date of the start of its 3G network closure to 28 October 2024 to free up spectrum.
Digital leadership
Telstra said all service transactions with customers will be capable of conducting digitally by FY25. Telstra is also targeting to enhance or upgrade key business processes using AI by FY25.
“The whole-of-business strategy has allowed us to enable over 67 per cent of key processes with AI and puts us on track to meet our target of 100 per cent by FY25,” Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said.
Telstra said it aims to reach top 20 percent in Digital Capability Index by FY25. Telstra is also targeting 100 percent API-first architecture for customer management, product development, and external monetization. Telstra will move ~90 percent of applications to the public cloud by FY25.
Capex
Telstra is targeting annual Capex (capital expenditure) of $3.2 billion – $3.4 billion (excluding spectrum) in fiscal 2024-25. Telstra has invested $5 billion in capex and mobile spectrum payments in fiscal 2024. Without spectrum, Telstra’s Capex in fiscal 2024 was $3.4 billion.
Telstra invested $1.3 billion in spectrum licences, including $616 million in the 850 MHz band and $546 million in the 3.4 to 3.7 GHz band, to deliver better 5G experiences to mobile customers in Australia.
Telstra made an investment of $42 billion in capex and spectrum over the last ten years. Telstra added 240,000 sq kms of additional mobile coverage since FY21 and now reaching 99.7 percent of the population.
Telstra has committed $1.6 billion investment in Intercity fibre and ViaSat projects. “We continued extending our intercity fibre network, with five new fibre routes between Australia’s major capital cities to begin construction in 2025,” Vicki Brady said.
Telstra achieved cost reduction of $122 million over the last two years.
Recently, Telstra decided to increase the rates on most of its mobile phone plans. The revised prices will be effective from Aug. 27 for customers with monthly postpaid mobile plans, while prepaid plan users will see an uptick from October 22.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
