Telstra shares have fallen after high-profile chief executive Sol Trujillo announced he is stepping down and returning to the United States.

News of Mr Trujillo's resignation at the end of June came as the telecommunications giant reported a 1 per cent fall in first-half profit to $1.92 billion.

Shares in Telstra fell more than 1.5 per cent this morning to $3.71.

Earlier Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie said Mr Trujillo would leave the company on June 30 to return home to the United States.

"On behalf of the Telstra Board I would like to congratulate Sol on his outstanding leadership and extraordinary achievements," Mr McGauchie said.

"His vision, strategic direction and commitment to execution have positioned Telstra as a media communications company with a wide range of options for ongoing growth."

Mr Trujillo was appointed CEO in 2005 and frequently clashed with the Government and regulators, most recently over the national broadband network.

Mr Trujillo thanked the Telstra board and the company's employees and said he would continue to drive the business until his departure.

"I would particularly like to thank my senior management team and Telstra's employees who are truly committed to bringing world-leading services to our customers. The results we have achieved together over the past four years make me incredibly proud," Mr Trujillo said in a statement on the Telstra website.

"Telstra is outperforming domestic and global peers in virtually every category. We are well positioned to hit the key transformation targets we set in November 2005 and I have every confidence that Telstra will continue to deliver world-leading results for shareholders."

His departure news comes one month after Telstra announced chief operations officer Greg Winn was leave the company to return to the United States.

Legacy

A senior research analyst from stockbroking firm EL and C Baillieu, Ivor Ries, says Mr Trujillo will be best remembered for his outspoken stance against the regulator and both the former and current Federal Governments.

"In terms of public perception, he and his colleagues, Phil Burgess etc, were seen as real stirrers and trouble makers and I'm not sure whether it actually helped improve the Telstra brand at all," he said.

"But as far as the major shareholders were concerned, they were happy with the way he behaved and what he did."

But the Union representing 12,000 Telstra employees says it hopes Mr Trujillo's resignation will lead to a change of attitude within the company about ongoing wage negotiations.

CEPU spokesman Burt Blackburne says Mr Trujillo will be remembered for short changing workers while accepting a massive salary.

"He's done very well out of the company," he said.

"He's a person whose current wage increase is something like $13.4 million, a 14 per cent increase over last year, while the workers in Telstra who've made all the profits suffer pay cuts and other sort of difficulties within the company."