The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price will be one to watch on Friday after the telco giant provided the market with an update on its full-year guidance following the NBN's decision to cease the sale of hybrid fibre co-axial (HFC) technology for six to nine months.
According to the release, Telstra has revised its full-year guidance lower as a result of the NBN delays and expects total income to be between $27.6 billion and $29.5 billion in FY 2018.
This compares to the $28.2 billion of total income in FY 2017 and its previous FY 2018 guidance range of $28.3 billion to $30.2 billion.
Management has also reduced its EBITDA guidance for the current year to between $10.1 billion and $10.6 billion, compared to last year's $10.7 billion and its previous guidance range of $10.7 billion to $11.2 billion.
Finally, its free cash flow will be impacted by an estimated $200 million and is expected to be between $4.2 billion and $4.7 billion in FY 2018.
What about its dividend?
The good news is that management has reaffirmed that it expects its FY 2018 total dividend to be 22 cents per share fully franked.
This equates to a fully franked 6.4% yield based on Telstra's last close price, far beyond the market average.
Pleasingly, this dividend looks as though it should be able to be maintained in FY 2019 and FY 2020 as well.
Management stated that: "While the nbn rollout delay impacts Telstra's outlook for FY18, it is anticipated the delay will be modestly financially positive to Telstra over the full rollout due to the effects of a natural hedge. It is noted that nbn co remains committed to completing the rollout by 2020."
This could make Telstra worth considering as an investment today, though investors may want to wait for the dust to settle before snapping up shares.
