Telstra chief executive Andy Penn says the cleanout and rejuvenation of his executive ranks gives the telco the right mix of skills and experience needed to realise his turnaround strategy and capitalise on the rollout of 5G.

The under-pressure Mr Penn unveiled two headline hires – outgoing SBS managing director Michael Ebeid and Indian telco Reliance Jio executive Nikos Katinakis – and showed four members of his executive team the door as well as handing more responsibility to Robyn Denholm, who will take over as chief financial officer and head of strategy.