Optus posts biggest Qrtly EBITDA growth in five years

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 12 August 2010 10:08

IT Industry - Market

SingTel has reported the strongest quarterly EBITDA growth in five years for its Optus subsidiary in its results for its first quarter, to 30 June 2010.

It says the result was mainly driven by "strong mobile growth and prudent cost management." Operating revenue grew 2.6 percent, reflecting seven consecutive quarters of double-digit mobile service revenue growth.

However growth in the most recent quarter was partly offset by lower mobile equipment revenue and the impact of one-off ICT project revenue in the corresponding quarter last year. Mobile service revenue and mobile EBITDA both rose 11 percent year-on-year.

Overall EBITDA grew 10 percent to $553m. Revenue was up three percent to $2.3b while EBITDA margin grew 1.5 percentage points to 24.5 percent. Net profit for the quarter grew 22 percent to $170m while free cash flow was up 40 percent to $195m (all figures compared to one year ago).

Mobile revenue was up 6.7 percent over the year to $1.4b. Service revenue grew 11 percent representing seven consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. Equipment revenue, however, was lower than a year ago, when figures were boosted by the June 2009 launch of iPhone 3GS. Operational EBITDA rose 11 percent.

Optus gained 190,000 new mobile and wireless broadband subscribers this quarter, taking its total to 8.69 million, a nine percent increase in the past year. Postpaid customer additions were 139,000 this quarter, with postpaid subscribers now comprising 50 per cent of Optus' total mobile customers base as at 30 June 2010. The number of Optus 3G customers increased to 4.17 million, which included 994,000 wireless broadband subscribers.

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