MarketScreener's loyal readers know that our team of analysts always keeps a close eye on the telecom operators sector, highly prized by both institutional and retail investors for the generous dividends these companies distribute.

Amongst names often discussed in these pages, one naturally thinks, for example,  Orange, Vodafone, BT Group, Telefonica, Verizon, Telus, China Mobile, MTN, or even T-Mobile, Telecom Italia and Telekom Austria.

As the successor to Telecom Australia, once a state-owned company, Telstra went through several waves of restructuring as an old public monopoly struggled in a market opened to competition. The pivotal shift was likely the transfer of the group's high-speed assets to NBN, a public entity, during the 2009 subprime crisis.

Telstra nonetheless remains the undisputed leader in the Australian market, where it operates the country's largest mobile network, with 40 to 45% market share, well ahead of its closest challenger Optus at 30%, and even farther ahead of TPG at a little more than 15%. Telstra is also the provider to NBN of more than a third of the network's fixed connections.

That privileged position has not, however, fully freed it from its past difficulties, a reality well illustrated by the fact that its share price is currently trading at the same level as twenty years ago.

As for the past decade, it saw revenue slip from 26 to 23 billion Australian dollars, margins compress, and profit before taxes and special items fall from 5.2 to 3.4 billion.

On a more positive note, leverage remained under control, the number of shares outstanding fell meaningfully, and the free cash flow generated over the decade, in aggregate, more than covered dividend distributions to shareholders, along with occasional and modest share buybacks.

Against this backdrop, Telstra's valuation stayed that of a mid-quality ''bond proxy'', with an average dividend yield of 5% throughout the decade, more or less in line with the rest of the sector.

However, that yield has recently slipped to around 4%, a historic low, helped along by a turnaround plan that is delivering results, as six years of uninterrupted operating profit decline between 2014 and 2020 have been followed by five years of clear growth under the leadership of Vicki Brady.