Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Telstra Corp., Australia's largest phone company, reaffirmed its forecast for earnings and sales to climb this year on growth from its mobile and Internet units amid the global financial turmoil.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization will probably rise as much as 7 percent in the 12 months ending June 30, Telstra said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. Sales this year may climb between 3 percent and 4 percent, the company said.

Telstra, based in Melbourne, stuck to its forecasts even as the credit crisis forces some companies to cut earnings estimates. The phone operator is three years into a five-year plan to raise profit by slashing its workforce by as much as 12,000 and has said it will invest more than A$10 billion ($6.8 billion) to upgrade the speed and geographic coverage of its networks to counter falling revenue from fixed-line operations.

``Unlike most companies at this time, Telstra is in an enviable position,'' Chief Executive Officer Sol Trujillo told investors in Sydney today. ``You can take it to the bank that we're going to grow earnings.''

Mobile-phone unit sales rose by a ``double-digit'' percentage in the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30, he said.

Telstra, which has cut 9,584 jobs since it announced its five-year plan, expects to save between A$200 million and A$300 million in labor costs by June 2010, Chief Financial Officer John Stanhope said. The phone operator had 46,649 workers at the end of June 30, according to its annual report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 5, 2008 17:54 EST