Telstra booked profit and revenue gains in its mobile business in its fiscal H1 2024 (ending 31 December 2023) on the back of customer additions, ARPU growth and cost controls.

In an earnings statement, CEO Vicki Brady highlighted its mobile unit continued to be a lynchpin of growth with a consistently strong performance, adding Telstra remained disciplined on reducing costs, particularly considering the external economic environment.

Telstra cut core fixed costs by AUD64 million ($41.5 million).

Mobile revenue increased 3.8 per cent year-on-year to AUD5.3 billion, with a 6 per cent rise in service revenue partly offset by 4.9 per cent decline in hardware sales.

Post-paid ARPU rose 5.4 per cent to AUD53.18 and prepaid fell 3.5 per cent to AUD26.44.

Prepaid subscribers increased 8.3 per cent to 3.7 million and post-paid was flat at 8.9 million.

IoT connections grew 24.2 per cent to 7.9 million.

Brady said 5G population coverage reached about 87 per cent, with 48 per cent of mobile traffic on the service.

Net profit attributable to shareholders grew 11.4 per cent to AUD964 million and revenue 1.2 per cent to AUD11.7 billion.

InfraCo revenue increased 8.2 per cent to AUD1.3 billion and tower unit Amplitel registered 16.2 per cent growth to AUD229 million.  

Revenue across its fixed-line businesses, covering consumer, enterprise and wholesales, declined 2.7 per cent to AUD4.1 billion.

Capex rose 11.3 per cent, with the full-year figure forecast to remain between AUD3.6 billion and AUD3.7 billion.

Brady reaffirmed fiscal 2024 revenue guidance at AUD22.8 billion to AUD24.8 billion, compared with AUD23.2 billion in fiscal 2023.