Optus lifts profits & revenue

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 06:11

IT Industry - Market

Optus lifted revenue by 1.5 percent for the three months to 31 December, to $2.42b, compared to the same quarter in 2010. . EBITDA increased by 1.6 percent to $562m, and net profit was up 4.4 percent to $177m.

Mobile revenues were up four percent to $1.62b and mobile service revenues grew two percent. Mobile EBITDA was up 2.5 percent, the result Optus said of lower customer acquisition costs associated with the introduction of new postpaid price plans in the quarter.

Optus confirmed its previously announced plans to launch LTE services in Newcastle, Port Stephens, the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie areas. These will start in April. "A capital city service rollout will begin in the second half of 2012, with phase one to deliver LTE services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and phase two to other capital cities," Optus said.

Twelve percent of Optus' mobile customers were served by wholesale partners at 31 December, up from 10 percent a year ago.

As previously reported Optus added 113,000 new postpaid customers in the quarter and 69,000 prepaid. It was able to do this at significantly lower customer acquisition costs, down to $180 per customer from $254 a year earlier.

Optus said that sustained demand for smartphones and refreshed cap plans had increased the penetration of capped plans. A total of 94 percent of new and recontracted postpaid customers chose capped plans during the quarter. Approximately 72 percent of the total Optus postpaid mobile base were on capped plans at 31 December 2011, up from 69 percent a year ago.

The balance of Optus revenue and EBITDA continued to shift towards mobiles: mobile revenue comprised 67 percent of total revenue, up two percentage points compared to the same quarter last year.