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Telstra’s mobile income increased by 8.3 per cent to $10.3 billion, largely from increased revenue per user. Mobile services revenue was up 7.9 per cent, which Telstra put down to price rises, higher usage and more expensive roaming, while mobile hardware revenue rose 12.1 per cent.

Brady said that since Telstra had separated out the service costs of its post-paid plans from hardware repayments, it was not affected by phone manufacturers like Samsung and Apple increasing incentives to buy directly from them.

“[The] volume [of phone sales] is up, and the average retail price that customers were willing to pay for new phones also increased slightly,” she said. “Consumers are choosing to buy from retailers, buy direct from handset manufacturers, and we have the flexibility available to make sure customers have that choice.”

Data use across the Telstra mobile network was up 35 per cent.

Weaker than expected numbers came from the company’s enterprise division, which saw underlying earnings before interest and tax slump 38 per cent. Telstra has been forced to lower prices in renegotiations with many businesses to retain customers in the face of lower priced NBN fibre resellers. There was also a larger-than-expected fall in the use of calling apps, as many workers continue to operate from home or in other flexible arrangements.

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Telstra has increased prices on mobile and fixed broadband plans over the year and more hikes are expected. However, despite the raised cost, satisfaction ratings from mobile customers were at an all-time high, which Moore said was encouraging.

“It just shows the power of the Telstra brand. The other thing that really helps is that Telstra has got a multi-brand strategy,” he said, referring to the budget-focused broadband provider Belong. The telco is also the mobile network provider to brands like Aldi and Woolworths mobile.

“So if they do lose the odd customer due to price rises, they can hopefully retain them through Belong or through their wholesale partners,” he said.

Telstra’s management wasn’t ready to comment on whether NBN’s revised payment guidelines, submitted to regulators this week, would affect consumer internet pricing. It also had no update on its energy business, which it had built up in 2022 but does not plan to turn into a retail energy business in the current financial year.

Brady said improving customer service remained Telstra’s biggest challenge, predicting total income for financial 2024 to land between $22.8 billion to $24.8 billion with underlying earnings of $8.2 billion and $8.4 billion.

To help achieve this, cost cuts remain firmly on her agenda.

“While our cost reduction ambition is being challenged by high inflation, we still expect to achieve the large majority of this by [financial year 2025],” she said. “We remain absolutely committed to delivering our [financial year 2025] underlying EBITDA and EPS growth ambitions.”

With Supratim Adhikari