Telstra CEO Vicki Brady received an 11 per cent pay rise, lifting her salary to $6.8 million for the year ending June 30. The board subsequently cut her bonus by $607,000 following a catastrophic nationwide network outage in July.
The telecommunications giant unveiled its full-year results on Thursday, detailing both growth across core financial metrics and immediate fallout from a software failure that grounded transport networks and disabled emergency calls across the country on July 8.
Financial Performance and the Executive Pay Package
Telstra reported that Vicki Brady’s total remuneration increased by $656,000, bringing her salary to $6.8 million for the period ending June 30 according to financial results.
Core earnings climbed three per cent to $8.2 billion, even as group revenue fell by 0.8 per cent noted in the company’s report. Income from mobile phones climbed by $300m to $11.3bn according to earnings statements. Much of this top-line momentum was driven by broad-based price increases implemented in May, which forced prepaid users to pay up to $5 more per month and postpaid customers an extra $4 a month NINE.
To curb expenses, the telco reduced its workforce by 1,219 jobs—a four per cent reduction—bringing total staff down to 29,334 explained in the company filing. This restructuring helped Telstra save $275 million noted by Nine. Despite shedding direct postpaid subscriptions noted in subscriber metrics, the company added 270,000 users overall stated in the shareholder overview, driven primarily by prepaid and wholesale partnerships with brands like Aldi and Woolworths highlighted by The Guardian.
The July Outage and Executive Penalties
The financial celebrations were immediately overshadowed by the July 8 infrastructure failure, which left millions unable to connect to the network, disabled Triple Zero emergency calls, and halted transport networks described in initial reports. The incident was traced to a missing software update on a key time-keeping system according to company explanations, affecting nearly half of all calls and data sessions noted by outlet reporting.
In response, the Telstra board met on Monday and moved to penalize senior leadership reported by The Guardian. Brady’s annual bonus was docked by $607,000 confirmed in the annual report. Additionally, the company docked 20 per cent of the bonus for its former global networks group executive and 10 per cent for all other senior executives, reducing executive bonuses by a combined equivalent of $1.3m according to financial disclosures.
Brady addressed investors on Thursday, stating that the company had let our customers down in July
and taken full accountability reported by The Guardian. In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, the company conceded that maintenance work triggered the blackout noted in legislative filings.
Disclosures Regarding Maintenance Shortfalls
Telstra admitted it could have spent $30,000 to fix an outdated piece of hardware and update software according to the regulatory filing.
If maintenance work can trigger this kind of outage, it suggests our controls were not good enough,
the company stated in its inquiry submission, adding, We have let our customers and Australians down, and for that, we are deeply sorry.
Despite the severity of the incident, Brady told reporters there was only a small impact
of customers leaving the telco, with ultimately no material impact
on subscriber retention or new customer acquisition noted by The Guardian. Market reaction was more immediate, however, as Telstra’s share price slipped from $5 to $4.875 in early trading, dragging market value down by $1.4bn to $54.3bn according to market data.
Compensation Claims and Regulatory Uncertainty
Compensation payouts are already underway as affected consumers seek redress reported by The Guardian. More than 30,000 customers have asked for compensation, with nearly $1m already paid out stated by Brady during investor calls. The firm continues to evaluate ongoing customer claims noted in financial disclosures.
At this stage regulatory outcomes and any financial implications from this outage are uncertain and cannot be reliably estimated,
the financial report explicitly noted according to The Guardian. Telstra has engaged an external expert to complete its root-cause investigation and pledged transparency regarding final findings and subsequent corrective measures confirmed by executive statements.
