Sydney, June 23, 2026, 04:07 (AEST)
- Telstra closed at A$5.04 on Monday, slipping 0.2% in muted trade.
- Telstra finished its A$1.25 billion buyback at an implied average price around A$5.08, just above where shares ended on Monday.
- Slower NBN plans will cost A$4 to A$5 more starting July 1, but pricing for higher-speed plans stays the same.
Telstra Group Limited (ASX:TLS) shares slipped 1 Australian cent to finish at A$5.04 on Monday, down 0.2%. The stock traded from A$5.04 up to A$5.11, with 23.1 million shares changing hands.
S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.14% to 8,816.1, tracking a soft market as investors watched geopolitical news and tech stocks sold off. “The benchmark spent much of the day treading water,” said Global X ETFs strategist Marc Jocum. Telstra is seeing a different story — a big mechanical buyer is now out of the market. Morningstar
Telstra’s last ASX filing showed it completed a buyback of 245.9 million shares, spending nearly A$1.25 billion. That puts the average paid at about A$5.08 per share. Shares closed Monday around 0.9% below that level. An on-market buyback sees the company buying shares on the exchange—cutting share count but helping demand while it’s running. With that support done, the program’s over.
Telstra’s price hand-off comes through mobile plan hikes. Most postpaid mobile plans went up by A$4 a month from May 5. The Basic plan is now A$74, Essential is A$84, and Premium is unchanged at A$99. With the change effective for only about eight weeks in the financial year to June 30, most of the hit lands in fiscal 2027. ARPU rises, unless customers churn.
Telstra’s July internet reset brings a less clear change. The 50 Mbps Essential bundle goes to A$113, matching the faster Premium plan price for users who qualify. The standalone 50 Mbps plan lifts to A$99, also the same as Premium. The move closes the price difference between the slower and faster tiers and could nudge buyers to choose higher speeds, but Telstra hasn’t changed the top-tier sticker price.
NBN Co said wholesale changes for popular residential fixed-line plans run from zero up to A$2.34 a month. Telstra is lifting retail prices on those tiers by A$4 to A$5, which is higher than the straight wholesale rise. But that’s not all profit for Telstra. Promotions, support costs, data use and product mix weigh in. Telstra hasn’t said how many accounts will see the hikes, so it’s not possible to nail down what those gains add up to.
Telstra’s main earnings driver is pricing. The carrier posted A$5.77 billion in first-half mobile revenue and tightened its full-year underlying EBITDA after lease costs guidance to A$8.2 billion to A$8.4 billion. CEO Vicki Brady said the share buyback should “support earnings and dividend per share growth.” eToro analyst Zavier Wong called Telstra “one of the most defensive names on the ASX.” Cutting share count gives a structural lift, but the daily buyback activity won’t last. Reuters
Spectrum is the bigger capital risk. It covers the radio frequencies used for mobile calls and data. The Australian Communications and Media Authority put the renewal value for licences held by Telstra, Optus, TPG Telecom and NBN Co at A$7.32 billion in total. The application process for these starts June 18. ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the A$7.32 billion figure “represents the market rate.” ACMA
Telstra is pushing for its share to be around A$1.2 billion instead of the A$2.8 billion ACMA puts on the table. The fight isn’t really about short-term sales but weighs on what the company does with future cash. Spectrum payments, network spend, and returns to shareholders all pull from the same pot. That makes a big new buyback tougher to argue for.
The price ladder has its risks too. Customers hit by July’s hikes are mostly on cheaper deals, and they might be quicker to leave. TPG Telecom just pulled Moose Mobile over from Optus, signaling rivals are still chasing budget users and looking to expand network reach. Telstra could lose some of its ARPU gain if churn rises or heavy discounting kicks in. Spending on network and reliability is still another cash demand.
Telstra’s next financial report lands August 13. Investors will watch for customer numbers after the mobile price hikes in May, and for signs of people moving between NBN speed tiers post-July 1. Capital returns are in focus too, now that the buyback is done. The stock slipped one cent Monday. The main question is if two rounds of price rises can fill the buyback gap without hitting customer counts.
