Telstra Made A$2.4 Billion in FY26. Its Own Results Credit Price Rises and Cost Cuts

Telstra reported a A$2.4 billion net profit for the year to 30 June 2026 when it released its full-year results on 13 August 2026, up 2.7 percent, and lifted its dividend to 21 cents a share. This is catch-up coverage a month after the release, written for the reader who pays the bill rather than the one who holds the shares. The short version: Telstra brought in slightly less revenue than the year before but made more profit from it, and its own documents point to mobile price changes, wholesale growth and a A$530 million reduction in costs as the reasons.

The Numbers Telstra Reported

Telstra’s market release describes FY26 as a strong year. Reported EBITDAaL, which is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after lease costs, rose 3 percent to A$8.2 billion. On Telstra’s preferred underlying basis, which strips out one-off items, it rose 4 percent to A$8.34 billion. Net profit after tax rose 2.7 percent to A$2.4 billion and earnings per share rose 5.3 percent to 19.9 cents. Cash earnings, the measure Telstra ties its dividend to, rose 11.6 percent to A$2.88 billion.

The one headline number that went backwards was total income, down 0.9 percent to A$23.4 billion. Telstra’s presentation attributes the fall primarily to divestments, product rationalisation and currency movements. In plain terms, Telstra sold some businesses and retired some products, brought in a little less money overall, and still made more profit.

Source: Telstra: Market release, FY26 full year results, 13 August 2026, read 12 September 2026.

Source: Telstra: CEO/CFO analyst briefing presentation and materials, FY26, read 12 September 2026.

Where the Growth Came From

Mobile is the engine. Mobile service revenue rose 4.8 percent to A$8.92 billion, and Telstra’s presentation says this growth was supported by handheld price changes and wholesale. Average revenue per user grew in every category: postpaid handheld up 3.8 percent, prepaid handheld up 7.2 percent and wholesale up 8.8 percent. Blended handheld revenue per user went from A$43.71 to A$45.33 a month. Telstra does not publish a dollar figure for how much of that growth came from price rises alone.

The customer count tells a more mixed story. Telstra-branded postpaid handheld services fell by 7,000 across the year to 8.879 million. Prepaid users rose by 46,000 and wholesale users, which are customers of other brands that resell Telstra’s network, rose by 235,000. So most of the 274,000 new mobile users Telstra reported were not Telstra-branded customers. Mobile broadband revenue grew 2.9 percent despite fewer services, which Telstra attributes to improved revenue per user following consumer and small business price rises.

In the CEO and CFO speeches lodged with the results, Telstra says it expects revenue per user next year to benefit from the price changes implemented in May 2026. It also notes that second-half revenue per user growth was offset by remediation costs, less roaming and fewer trading days.

Source: Telstra: CEO/CFO analyst briefing presentation and materials, FY26, read 12 September 2026.

Home internet moved the same way. Income in Fixed Consumer and Small Business fell 3 percent to A$4.2 billion, but EBITDA in that division rose 13.5 percent to A$412 million. Telstra says bundle and data revenue per user rose 2.6 percent to A$89.32 a month, reflecting mix and price rises across Telstra-branded and Belong plans, while the number of those services fell 3.7 percent.

Source: Telstra: CEO/CFO analyst briefing presentation and materials, FY26, read 12 September 2026.

The Cost Cuts Behind the Profit

The other half of the profit growth is cost. Telstra’s underlying operating expenses fell 3 percent to A$14.47 billion, and what it calls cash EBIT costs fell A$530 million. The presentation attributes lower fixed costs to lower labour costs after product rationalisation and simplification, plus divestments and currency benefits, partly offset by higher redundancy, customer remediation and compensation costs. The CEO and CFO speeches say most of the cost increase in the year came from higher-than-usual remediation, compensation and redundancy rather than underlying operating cost growth.

Source: Telstra: CEO/CFO analyst briefing presentation and materials, FY26, read 12 September 2026.

Telstra also acknowledged the 8 July 2026 mobile outage in the results. The CEO’s speech says Telstra let its customers down in July and has taken full accountability. On 2 September 2026 Telstra published the external investigation’s findings, which say the outage was triggered by incorrect date information in the network timing system and that Telstra had not treated network timing as a critical capability requiring the highest levels of oversight and protection.

Source: Telstra: What we’ve learned from the external investigation of our July outage, read 12 September 2026.

The Price Rises Behind the Revenue

Telstra’s own pricing pages set out the three rounds of increases that sit under these results. From 1 July 2025 most postpaid mobile plans rose by A$3 to A$5 a month, with Starter and Premium unchanged and prepaid untouched. From 5 May 2026 most postpaid plans rose by A$4, the A$50 Starter plan became A$55 and was withdrawn for new customers, prepaid recharges rose by around A$5 with extra data, and only the A$99 Premium plan held its price. From 1 July 2026, Telstra’s home internet plans rose by A$4 a month, with Basic nbn going from A$93 to A$97 and Essential nbn from A$109 to A$113, and 5G Home Internet rising from A$85 to A$95.

Telstra’s stated reasons were investment in network performance, reliability and security for mobile, and for internet, investment plus rising data usage and higher nbn wholesale costs. The May 2026 announcement also added a lower-cost Access plan and a 10 percent concession discount on most Upfront plans from 1 July 2026.

Source: Telstra: Changes to mobile plans from 5 May 2026, read 12 September 2026.

Source: Telstra: Price change for internet, 1 July 2026, read 12 September 2026.

Source: Telstra: Mobile and internet changes from 1 July 2025, read 12 September 2026.

The longer run matters too. Wireless Choices’ August 2026 pricing snapshot, compiled from provider websites and Critical Information Summaries, tracks Telstra’s SIM-only Upfront plans back to 2020. The Basic plan has gone from A$55 in July 2020 to A$74 today and Essential from A$65 to A$84, through five increases each. Premium has held at A$99 since August 2024. On the snapshot’s figures, Basic costs 35 percent more than it did six years ago.

Source: Wireless Choices: Australian Mobile & NBN Plan Pricing Snapshot, August 2026, read 12 September 2026.

What Telstra Expects Next

For FY27, Telstra guides to underlying EBITDAaL of A$8.5 billion to A$8.8 billion, up from A$8.34 billion, with business-as-usual capital spending of A$3.35 billion to A$3.65 billion and cash EBIT of A$4.75 billion to A$4.95 billion. It completed a A$1.25 billion share buy-back in June 2026 and announced a further buy-back of up to A$1 billion. Telstra also lifted its estimate of strategic investment in the Aura fibre network and Viasat projects to around A$1.8 billion from A$1.6 billion, citing inflationary pressures and project-specific factors.

On the network side, Telstra says it upgraded nearly 1,200 mobile sites with 5G Advanced capability, built more than 150 new sites and added back-up power at more than 1,800 sites during FY26. Whether that investment justifies the price rises is a judgement for each customer. What the documents show is that Telstra expects another year of earnings growth, and that revenue per user from the May 2026 rises is part of the plan.

Source: Telstra: Market release, FY26 full year results, 13 August 2026, read 12 September 2026.

How the Share Market Reacted

Investors were less impressed than the headline numbers suggest. Telstra shares closed at A$5.00 on 12 August 2026, the day before the results, and at A$4.84 on 13 August, a fall of about 3 percent on the day. They drifted lower through the rest of August to a 12-month low of A$4.58 on 26 August, before recovering to A$4.83 on 11 September. Over the year the stock peaked at A$5.55 on 19 May 2026, two weeks after the May price rises took effect.

This section is general information only, not financial advice. Share prices are closing prices on the ASX as recorded by Yahoo Finance and were read on 12 September 2026; they may differ slightly from other data providers.

Source: Yahoo Finance: Telstra Group (TLS.AX) historical prices, read 12 September 2026.

Sources and How This Was Checked

All financial figures come from Telstra’s market release and CEO/CFO presentation materials lodged with the ASX on 13 August 2026, and the price changes from Telstra’s own announcement pages, all read on 12 September 2026. The outage findings come from Telstra’s 2 September 2026 post. Share prices quoted in the text are ASX closing prices from Yahoo Finance historical data; the live chart is TradingView’s. The plan price history comes from the Wireless Choices August 2026 pricing snapshot. Rounding follows Telstra’s documents. Nothing was tested and no customer bills were reviewed; the checklist is editorial guidance.

Related on Tech X Telco: Telstra Satellite Home Internet Goes to A$150 on 29 September.