By Claire Reilly
Following the release of Telstra’s quarterly results last week, Singtel Group, the parent company of Optus, has announced a small boost in revenue for the telecommunications company.
For the quarter ended 31 December 2011, Optus revenues were up 1.5 per cent to AUD $2.4 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 2 per cent to $562 million, and net profit climbed 4 per cent to $177 million.
“Optus delivered another quarter of revenue and EBITDA growth, adding 182,000 mobile customers, in spite of the intensely competitive Australian telecommunications market,” said Optus CEO, Paul O’Sullivan.
“Optus continued to lead the market with new, relevant and personalised digital services while making improvements in customer experience.”
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Of the new customers, 113,000 were postpaid and 69,000 were prepaid customers, bringing Optus’ total number of mobile customers up to 9.41 million. In the same three-month period, Telstra brought in more than five times as many new mobile customers, with 958,000 new customers signed onto prepaid and postpaid deals.
According to the company’s results statement released yesterday, Optus has commenced rolling out Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and will bring its first LTE services to Newcastle, Port Stephens, the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie from April 2012. Capital cities will begin receiving LTE services in the second half of 2012, with Sydney, Melbourne and Perth the first to be connected in phase one, and other capital cities following in phase two.
“During the quarter, Optus unveiled details of various consumer NBN packages,” the company stated. “Plans will also be enhanced later to include enriched digital offerings such as the new Optus MeTV service that provides customers with access to on-demand television programmes at affordable prices."