business
Telstra CEO to Return Friday After Nationwide Outages
The company's chief executive is scheduled to return to Australia on Friday after cutting short an overseas trip. The telco experienced outages that disrupted calls, internet, payments, and emergency services.
Jul 9, 4:21 AM·1m read1 source
The Sydney Morning HeraldAudio version
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Telstra's chief executive is scheduled to return to Australia on Friday after cutting short an overseas trip to address outages that began early Wednesday. The disruptions blocked calls, internet connections, payments, and trains, followed by a secondary outage into Thursday morning.
The company reported that 639 calls to Triple Zero failed during the events. The chief financial officer stated the executive took the first available flight and remained in contact with the leadership team throughout the incident.
The outages affected services across the network.
The chief financial officer addressed reporters in Melbourne on Thursday, his second day handling press conferences, and confirmed the executive would return as soon as possible. The company has not confirmed whether the chief executive will hold a press conference on Friday. Officials said the executive would need time to review developments upon arrival.
The chief executive has led the company since September 2022. During this period, full-time employee numbers fell from a peak of 33,761 in mid-2024 to 29,520 by December 2026. The company shifted from annual CPI-linked price reviews to staggered increases.
Core postpaid plan costs rose by $12 per month through hikes in August 2024, July 2025, and May 2026. The share price rose from approximately $3.94 to more than $5.40 earlier this year before declining to just under $5, resulting in a market capitalization above $55 billion.
