On 16^th August 2018, Telstra announced its FY18 earnings. While subscriber growth remained strong, it was not strong enough to offset ARPU declines.

Telstra is betting its future on new initiatives (IoT) and network technologies (5G) to remain ahead in times of increasing competitive pressure in both fixed and mobile, however it faces competition from multiple other market participants.

The full FY18 financial results was announced just two months after its strategy day which outlined a new way forward for the nation’s largest telecommunications company. In a market of declining revenues and ARPUs, Telstra is banking on its future initiatives, emerging technologies and strategy reforms to offset this trend and remain the dominant telco in the country.

Some of the key highlights from the announcement included:

• Revenue of A$29,042mn up 3% over FY17
• Operating expenses totalled A$18,899mn, 7.6% increase in expenses compared to FY17
• Net profit of A$3,529mn, down 8.9% compared with A$3,874mn in FY17
• EBITDA and EBIT down 9.4% and 8.9%to A$10,121mn and A$5,651mn respectively
• Earnings per share declined to 30 cents per share compared with 32.5 per share in FY17