Telstra executives to be questioned by shareholders over July network blackout

At Telstra's upcoming annual meeting in Sydney, shareholders are set to grill the company's leadership over a July outage that halted public transport, EFTPOS and emergency 000 calls. The failure originated in the early morning when a planned timing chassis update in Melbourne introduced an incorrect internal date, leading to rolling network failures. One outlet's review by Technology Audit Partners found that Telstra had not treated network timing as a critical function, lacked clear ownership, and did not have sufficient technical expertise on hand.

The blackout prompted a Senate inquiry and an ongoing probe by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Following the incident, Telstra's board reduced chief executive Vicki Brady's compensation for 2025/26 by $607,000 and trimmed short-term incentives for nine other senior executives by $1.3 million. Despite the penalties, the board praised Brady's overall performance, and the Australian Shareholders Association plans to support her pay package, while investors also expect discussion of AI investments.