Telstra is raising its dividend and will spend up to $750 million buying back its shares after the telecommunications firm grew its first-half profit by 7.1 per cent.
Telstra on Thursday said it made $1.1 billion in net profit in the first half, after a strong performance from its mobile business with 119,000 net new customers.
Its revenue for the six months to December 31 was up 1.5 per cent to $11.6 billion, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbing six per cent to $4.2 billion.
"These are a strong set of results, delivering a fourth consecutive year of first-half underlying growth, reflecting momentum across our business, strong cost control and disciplined capital management," chief executive Vicki Brady said.
Telstra announced a 9.5 cent per share fully franked interim dividend, up 5.6 per cent from a year ago.
The company will begin buying back its shares on March 12.
It will also spend another $800 million over the next four years upgrading its mobile network in partnership with Ericsson, to optimise network management with "self-detection and self-healing properties".
