Telstra’s CEO received an 11 per cent pay rise last year, before a nationwide outage impacted millions and as the telco cut more than 1200 jobs.
Telstra’s full-year results, released on Thursday, revealed Vicki Brady’s salary increased by $656,000 to $6.8 million to June 30, while net profit rose by 2.4 per cent to $2.4 billion.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady was given an 11 per cent pay rise. Louise Kennerley
A little over a week into the new financial year, the company was at the centre of a catastrophic failure on July 8 that left millions unable to connect to the Telstra network, led to Triple Zero calls failing to connect and saw transport networks around the country grind to a halt.
The annual report said the outage had affected its overall grading of Brady’s performance in the role as CEO but added a review into what led to the outage was still ongoing.
Despite the outage happening in the new financial year, Brady’s bonus was cut by $607,000 and the rest of the executive team also received smaller bonuses due to the outage arising from a fault within Telstra’s control.
Telstra said the company was committed to investigating the cause of the outage thoroughly, and understood the impact it had on millions of Australians.
“When our network fails, the impact is realm and we’re deeply sorry for the disruption the incident caused,” Brady and Telstra Chair, Craig Dunn, said in the report.
“Along with supporting customers who were impacted, our key focus since has been understanding what happened and why.”
The outage came as the company also slashed its workforce by four per cent, or by 1219 jobs, meaning it now employs 29,334 staff.
This helped the company save $275 million.
Overall, Telstra’s core earnings climbed three per cent to $8.2 billion, despite its group revenue falling by 0.8 per cent.
It also added 270,000 users to its mobile network, with Brady telling shareholders in a statement the company had enjoyed a “strong year”.
However, part of the increased earnings came from price rises to its mobile plans, with some users forced to pay up to $5 more per month.
Telstra admitted it could have spent $30,000 to fix outdated software that would have stopped last month’s catastrophic outage. Getty
“We increased investment in our network and delivered ongoing earnings growth, reflecting momentum across our business,” she said.
However, the company’s immediate future could be clouded by the outcome of any investigation into the findings stemming from the outage, which the company admitted was caused by an outdated piece of hardware that could have been fixed for as little as $30,000.
In submission made to a parliamentary inquiry, the company admitted it had fallen short of expectations.
“If maintenance work can trigger this kind of outage, it suggests our controls were not good enough,” it said.
“We have let our customers and Australians down, and for that, we are deeply sorry.”