Telstra posts strong half-year profit as mobile drives growth and company flags major cost changes

Telstra has delivered a strong set of half-year results, reporting a profit outcome driven largely by its mobile division, while also outlining significant operational changes aimed at controlling costs and reshaping the workforce.

Telstra posted a $1.2 billion profit for the first half of the 2025/26 financial year, with mobile revenue rising 3.6% to $5.7 billion and average revenue per user increasing. The report also pointed to weaker performance in other segments, including fixed-line and enterprise areas.

Profit rose to about $1.21 billion for the six months ending December 31, alongside an increased interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share. Telstra confirmed job cuts as part of a technology-driven restructure and highlighted Telstra's broader "Connected Future 30" strategy.

On Telstra's investor site, the company noted its FY26 half-year results webcast was scheduled for 19 February 2026, reflecting the market's close attention to how management balances network investment, digital transformation and shareholder returns.

For consumers, Telstra's results underline how central mobile services remain to telco profitability-particularly when pricing, customer growth and usage trends are moving in the right direction. For employees and the tech sector, the focus is on how automation and outsourcing reshape roles, and what that means for service delivery and capability in the medium term.

Investors, meanwhile, will weigh whether mobile momentum can offset softness elsewhere, and whether cost control and capital discipline can be sustained without compromising network quality. Telstra is signalling it wants to be both a dependable dividend stock and a modernised technology platform-an ambition that often requires difficult trade-offs.