By Ross Kelly
SYDNEY--Australian telecommunications company Telstra Corp.
(TLS.AU) said Thursday it plans to buy back up to 1 billion
Australian dollars (US$930 million) of its own shares, after the
sale of a Hong Kong mobiles unit helped fuel a 14% rise in annual
profit.
The buyback plan comes amid investor pressure on Telstra to
outline how it will use the proceeds of asset sales, including from
the sale of its fixed-line infrastructure to the Australian
government for A$11 billion in 2012, which has paved the way for a
national rollout of a high-speed national broadband network. That
deal, however, stripped Telstra of its wholesale infrastructure
monopoly, forcing it to build a more competitive retail business
and look to expand overseas.
Net profit for the year through June rose to A$4.28 billion,
helped by the sale of Hong Kong mobile unit CSL to HKT Ltd.
In recent years, Telstra has held dividend payments to
shareholders steady, and instead plowed money into its mobile
infrastructure, including establishing a 4G network. A modest rise
in Telstra's first-half dividend to 14.5 cents a share in February
was the first time the company had lifted the payout in eight
years. For the second half of its fiscal year, Telstra said it had
lifted the payment again to 15 cents.
Write to Ross Kelly at ross.kelly@wsj.com
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