Optus Profit Rises In Second Quarter

For the half year, Optus posted net profit of $394 million, up 2.3 per cent year-on-year, while operating revenue of $4.22 billion was down 0.5 per cent.

Total mobile subscribers of 9.403 million for the quarter were down from 9.495 million year-on-year, driven by a drop in mobile broadband subscribers.

Optus stated it is making progress with a “strategy of offering simpler plans that give customers the confidence to use data”, along with the rollout of 4G services satisfying a demand for “faster speeds and better network quality”.

There has been a strong take-up of tiered data plans and data sharing, Optus said, contributing to a 7 per cent increase in data revenues for the quarter and blended average mobile revenue per user rising 2 per cent year-on-year.

“Optus achieved solid sales momentum during the period, with strong demand for My Plan Plus and data sharing plans combined with a compelling ‘Switch’ postpaid mobile offer and a revitalised portfolio of prepaid plans,” Optus chief executive officer Allen Lew commented.

“Optus’ prepaid and postpaid mobile handset customer base grew strongly with net additions of 65,000 this quarter.”

Payments of $652 million were made during the quarter for the acquisition of spectrum which Optus is deploying in its national 4G rollout, with Optus stating the 2600 MHz spectrum is generally available from October 2014 and the 700 MHz spectrum from January 2015.

Optus stated it made “significant investments” to its mobile network during the quarter, with the upgrade of 2,245 4G sites.

“Expanding our national 4G network to 90 per cent of the population by April 2015 underpins Optus’ strategy for driving long-term data revenue growth,” Lew commented.

“We are well on schedule to turn on new 4G spectrum in all state capital cities and over 100 regional towns throughout January 2015.”