Telstra chief executive calls it a day a year before time

Telstra Corp Chief Executive Officer Sol Trujillo will step down from Australia's largest phone company a year ahead of schedule after a tenure marked by clashes with the government.

The board will search for a successor and expects to make an appointment by June 30, when Trujillo will leave, Melbourne-based Telstra said yesterday.

Telstra yesterday posted its first six-month profit drop in two years after sales of traditional phone services fell. Trujillo's successor will need to find new businesses after the company's omission from a government-funded national Internet network that may cost it A$2 billion ($1.3 billion) in potential sales.