Telstra has boosted its annual profit by a healthy 13 per cent to $3.9 billion as it signed up 1.3 million more customers to its mobile network.
The telco giant's net profit for 2012/13 was up from $3.4 billion a year earlier, while total revenue lifted by two per cent to $26 billion.
Telstra shares gained 12 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $5.13, just short of their recent historic highs.
Mobile was the biggest contributor, with 15.1 million services for phones and mobile broadband generating $9.2 billion in revenue, up six per cent on the previous year.
Telstra chief executive officer David Thodey said it was the third consecutive year of significant customer growth for Telstra mobile, driven by $1.2 billion of investment in the network during the year.
And despite there being well over 100 per cent market penetration for mobile services in Australia, Mr Thodey said there was still plenty of growth to be found in the mobile market, pointing to Hong Kong, where penetration is 200 per cent, as an example.
"I think mobile demand is just incredible - we're getting growth in data volumes on the network of over 40 per cent year to year, that's because you're using your mobile so much more," Mr Thodey said in a media conference.
"The only challenge is that you don't want to pay any more for the more you use it.
"So what we're doing is finding ways for people to take extra services, so you have a tablet and a mobile and maybe there's some new devices coming soon."
Streaming of movies to tablets and machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communication are both identified as potential growth areas for Telstra, with the company forecasting revenue and earnings to continue to grow in the low single-digit range for 2013/14.
Telstra confirmed its 14 cent second half dividend, taking the annual dividend to a fully franked 28 cents, in line with previous years.
From next year the company will consider its dividend amount on a half-yearly basis, ending a six year practice of holding the dividend steady.
Analysts expect any move will be higher.
The telco's profit was slightly ahead of analysts' expectations.
Fixed line customer numbers continued their rapid decline, with 287,000 customers, or 3.6 per cent, disconnecting during the year and fixed line revenue sagging 9.5 per cent.
The Sensis directories business, which includes the Yellow Pages and White Pages telephone directories, suffered an 11.4 per cent fall in revenue.
Cost cutting and operational improvements achieved $1 billion in productivity benefits during the year and Mr Thodey said there was "further opportunity to improve operational efficiency".
