MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA-A 10.3-percent lift in revenue from mobile services to A$3.24 billion (US$1.7 billion) failed to return an increase in overall revenues to Telstra, which in the year to June fell 9.3 percent to A$20.92 billion (US$11.5 billion).
In the last financial year, Telstra also added 766,000 new mobile customers to its 5.9 million total and boosted its share of the Australian mobile market from 58 percent to 64 percent. This combined with lower dealer commissions and handset subsidies were able to return higher revenues, even though average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) fell from A$52.47 (US$29) to A$48.60 (US$26.8).
Although the carrier recorded a A$3.6 billion (US$2 billion) profit for the 2001 to 2002 financial year, the result was still 10-percent lower on the previous year. The result sparked a sell-off of stock in Australia’s largest carrier on Wednesday.
Telstra’s full-year results also reported a 10.3-percent rise in fixed-to-mobile call revenues to A$1.42 billion (US$783 million) and an 8.4-percent increase in mobile handset earnings to A$23 million (US$12.7 million).
