👉 Background: Telstra is Australia’s biggest telco, founded in 1975 with over 24 million retail mobile services. Telstra once owned the Yellow Pages directory (through its subsidiary Sensis) before we all started Googling everything. NOT HAPPY JAN!

👉 What happened: Now, Telstra’s investors were a-little-happier-Jan because it reported a $2.34 billion annual net profit, which was up 31% from last year. There were two main reasons for this:

• The aggressive cost-cutting that has seen Telstra cut hundreds of staff from its workforce.
• Growth in its mobile business, where its mobile EBITDA grew to $5.3 billion, which is a $235 million year on year jump.

These strong results in mobile were largely due to its higher ARPU on mobile services.

👉 What else: To top things off, Telstra announced plans to buyback $1 billion worth of shares, which was in addition to the $750 million buyback it announced in June this year.

What's the key learning?

‍💡ARPU or Average Revenue Per User measures how much revenue the company earns, on average, from each customer over a given period. In FY25, higher ARPU was a key driver behind Telstra’s $235 million lift in mobile EBITDA.  

💡This year, Telstra rolled out price rises of $3 - $5 per month for its mobile plans. And while might this might sound small, it becomes a VERY big number when its multiplied across its 24 million retail mobile services.

💡But boosting ARPU isn’t just about charging more for the same plan. Telstra can grow this figure by offering bundled services (like mobile and home internet) or adding premium features like extra data, and of course upselling to plans with international roaming. These add-ons not only lift revenue per user but can also improve customer stickiness.