Andrew Penn

I can't wait to see the next exciting phase under the leadership of Vicki Brady. Thank you to our people, our shareholders and most of all, our customers.

I know I asked a lot of the team during my tenure, but they stepped up every day to deliver, and I'm immensely proud to have been your leader during this time.

Today marks my last day as Telstra CEO. I've been reflecting on my time leading this great Australian company. It's a very different Telstra to the one I stepped in to lead seven years ago.

I know the leadership team at Telstra will see this important work through. Our Stretch RAP is designed to rebuild trust with First Nations communications and you can read more on that here. tel.st/2022-RAP

That is why we are funding new research to create and share a fuller, more inclusive history. The stories the research uncovers may be difficult and may be painful, but fully understanding the past is an important step towards proper reconciliation.

I am a passionate supporter of Australia’s reconciliation journey. Just last month I had the privilege of launching our new Stretch RAP, renewing Telstra’s commitment to this cause. Truth telling is a critical part of this journey.

By switching on free Wi-Fi at selected payphones, we are helping to increase opportunities for people to connect. It will give people more access to services, to help, to information and most importantly, to each other. Who knew the humble payphone could be so helpful?

Our payphones are already a lifeline for thousands of vulnerable Australians, and since we’ve made calls on them free, there has been almost 19 million calls made last year.

Being connected is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity and that’s why we made Wi-Fi available for free today at around 3,000 of our payphones.

See Iskra Nikolova’s blog if you want to see how the results were calculated. Tel.st/fastest

Our 5G network is on track to hit 95% coverage by 2025, but today I’m proud to celebrate with the team who’ve worked tirelessly to deliver the best network for our customers. Congratulations team!

The results are in⚡and @Ookla has named us Australia’s fastest mobile network for the second time running. It means you can download and connect to the largest, fastest, and most reliable network in the country in more places too now our 5G coverage covers 80% of the population.

It will make a positive, practical difference. And it will hold us to account. Reconciliation is a long, important journey and it is one we’re committed to taking.

An important part of reconciliation is acknowledging the harm caused, whether it was intended or not. We’re doing more than just trying to fix what happened and move on. Our new RAP is built around input from First Nations employees, community leaders and organisations.

We launched Telstra’s new Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan this week. In March last year, our previous RAP was revoked and since then, we’ve been working with @RecAustralia to get back on the right path.

@LizBroderick @Telstra Thanks for the support Liz.

Incredible to see a whole sector stepping up together on women’s safety. Thank you @andy_penn, @Telstra and your sector colleagues.  industryimpacthub.org/domestic-and-f…

Here are a few of my favourite things we did that make us a better place for customers than we ever have been before.

Four years ago, we proposed a radical transformation to fundamentally change Telstra. Now, we’re celebrating. Not because of how we finished, but because of how we rose to meet the many challenges along the way.