Trujillo paid $54m to get a $1.5m bonus

Telstra boss Sol Trujillo received a $1.5 million bonus for a strategy plan he paid a US company $54 million to develop, a report says.

Mr Trujillo received the $1.5 million personal bonus as part of his $8.7 million pay packet which has been criticised by Treasurer Peter Costello and Telstra shareholders, The Australian newspaper reports.

The bonus was paid subject to the successful delivery of the new business strategy and transformation plan for the company, the company's annual report says.

But within days of Mr Trujillo taking over as chief of the telco, he hired Boston-based Bain & Co to do much of the strategic work, the report said.

The total bill for Bain & Co's work was $54 million, with the fee including business-class flights from Singapore, the US and Europe, company sources told The Australian.

The US company flew much of its Singapore team to Australia for the Telstra contract and at its peak, Bain had 30 people working inside Telstra.