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VIRTUALISATION VHA a 6.3m subscriber mobile company
VIRTUALISATION VHA a 6.3m subscriber mobile company | VHA a 6.3m subscriber mobile company |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 11 August 2009 | |
  
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As a result of this transaction HTA no longer consolidates the results of the operating entity (formerly H3GA and now VHA) but will instead equity account for its 50 percent interest in VHA. The HTA results to 30 June represent five months of the former '3' business and one month of an equity accounted result for VHA. They show the combined entity with 6.31 million subscribers and the addition of Vodafone's predominantly prepaid base has shifted the mix dramatically: from the former '3's 90.7 percent post paid to only 55.5 percent post paid for the combined entity. The merged entity is now 80 percent the size of Optus, by customer numbers. Optus at 31 March had 7.79 million mobile customers. At 31 December 2008 Telstra had 9.706m mobile customers. Growth in mobile broadband services has also been dramatic from '3's 346,000 a year ago to 926,000 for the combined entity. Included in this number are customers subscribing to either a handset data plan, mobile broadband card or modem, a data plan, or using or mobile web via a handset. Not surprisingly, in parallel to this usage of non-voice services (other than SMS) has also accelerated dramatically. The number of 'content and mobile broadband events' (defined as discrete items such as a tone, game or videoclip shot up from 116 million in the second half of 2008 to 395 million in 1H09. Included in this is 50 percent of one month's activity by former Vodafone subscribers. On the financial side HTA reported a 45.2 percent increase in non voice revenue to $303.0m (including 50 percent of one month from Vodafone). Non voice services now account for 33.8 percent of ARPU. Total revenue was up 19.4 percent on a year ago to $912.5million and HTA reduced its after tax loss from operations for the half year by $42.3m to $35.3m. However the payment of $587.3m by Vodafone under the merger agreement gave HTA a net profit of $552m. VHA CEO, Nigel Dews said: "VHA was free cash flow positive for the first half of 2009 and will remain so for its first full year, excluding one-off costs associated with the merger." He added: "We are particularly pleased with our growth in mobile broadband subscriptions and we see great potential for growth in this area." The company said that "During the second half of the year VHA will be focused on merging the businesses, which will include rationalising the organisation and integrating operations as we begin to realise synergies from merger. We will also be insourcing the management and retail operations of Vodafone branded stores and expect this to drive longer term productivity improvements and cost benefits." There was no statement made as to the future of the 3 brand and information on this to date has been somewhat contradictory. In June when Vodafone Group announced that the merger would proceed, it said that "VHA will continue to market products and services under the Vodafone and 3 brands and all respective network arrangements, caps and plans, retail outlets and customer service capabilities will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future." However announcing its Q1 results last month Vodafone Group indicated that the end was in sight for the 3 brand, saying "[VHA]...in due course, will market its products and services solely under the Vodafone brand."
This article first appeared in ExchangeDaily, iTWire's daily newsletter for telecommunications professionals. Register here for your free trial.
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