News
Australian incumbent reports strong momentum in mobile, fixed broadband customer growth.
Telstra on Thursday raised its dividend after reporting 9.1% growth in first-half revenue.
In the six months to 31 December, the Australian incumbent generated revenue of A$14.19 billion (€9.15 billion), up from A$13.01 billion in the same period a year earlier. EBITDA increased 1.7% year-on-year to A$5.41 billion, while net profit edged up 0.8% to A$2.1 billion.
In a letter to shareholders, Telstra said its performance reflected improvements in customer service and the ongoing upgrade to its mobile networks. It is also the first full six-month operating period that includes the contribution from Pacnet; Telstra completed its acquisition of the carrier in April 2015.
Telstra’s mobile revenue grew 3.7% year-on-year to A$5.53 billion, as its retail customer base increased by 235,000, bringing the total to 16.9 million, which includes 8.9 million 4G connections.
"We are responding to our customers’ needs by offering more data and exclusive content in our mobile plans," Telstra said.
Furthermore, the operator’s 4G network coverage increased to 96% of the population and is on track to reach 99% by June 2017.
On the fixed side, overall revenue fell 1.5% to A$3.56 billion, as falling voice revenue offset growth in data revenue driven by subscriber growth.
Indeed, Telstra had 3.3 million fixed broadband subscribers at the end of December, having added 121,000 new customers during the first half.
"This is the strongest subscriber growth in over three years on the back of strong marketing initiatives, the continued success of our bundled offering, which also include premium content and entertainment, and our free WiFi campaign," Telstra said.
Based on the strong performance, Telstra raised its interim dividend by 3.3% to 15.5 cents, returning A$1.9 billion to shareholders.
Telstra said it is on track to meet its full-year guidance of mid-single digit revenue growth, and low-single digit EBITDA growth.
