Telstra has awarded chief executive Vicki Brady total remuneration of A$6.8 million (approximately $4.4 million) for the year ending in June, a pay rise of A$700,000 even after the company docked 20% of her bonus over a nationwide network outage in July.
The Australian telecommunications giant reported its full-year financial results on Thursday. Its board, which met earlier in the week, cut Brady’s bonus by A$607,000 (approximately $394,000) in response to the outage that affected millions of customers across the country.
Despite the reduction, Brady still secured an increase on the A$6.1 million she was paid the previous year. The board also trimmed senior executive bonuses by a combined A$1.3 million (approximately $845,000) as part of its accountability measures following the incident.
The July outage disrupted mobile and internet services nationwide, drawing criticism over reliability and the resilience of critical communications infrastructure. Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, and disruptions to its network ripple across households, businesses and emergency services.
The pay decision comes as executive compensation at major listed companies continues to face intense scrutiny from shareholders and the public. Debates over the alignment of pay with performance have surfaced across markets, echoing broader questions raised by moves such as the sweeping compensation packages proposed for high-profile chief executives.
Telstra shares slid following the results announcement, as investors weighed the financial figures alongside the executive remuneration outcome and the reputational fallout from the outage.
The company has sought to frame the bonus cuts as evidence of board accountability, balancing a reduction in variable pay against Brady’s overall package. Shareholders are expected to weigh in on the remuneration report at the company’s upcoming annual meeting.
Telstra faces continued pressure to demonstrate that its network investments can prevent a recurrence of the disruption, while managing expectations around executive pay in a period of heightened investor sensitivity.