Optus Net Profits Climb 24% Revenues Up 11%

Optus who last week rolled out their 5G offering, has posted an increase in second-quarter profits and  a double-digit  increase in revenue, they have attributed this to improved NBN migration and overall cost management.

Revenues are up by by 11% to $703 million, from $631 million the previous year, resulting in a 24% increase to net profits from $248 million to $263 million.

Free cashflows also saw an increase of 22% to $357 million, with revenue remaining stable at $2.27 billion in response to price changes in mobile plans and lower equipment sales.

While it’s mobile service revenue declined by 4%, price changes to mobile plans saw stability return in the June quarter resulting in a postpaid handset customer base increase of 30,000.

Broadband, NBN connections reached 80,000 in Q2, with more customers than ever before moving to the NBN.

The total NBN base for Optus has grown to 726,000, alongside a 40% drop in HFC and ADSL customers to 377,000.

Optus now holds a customer base of 10.3 million mobile subscribers, which breaks down into 5.76 million postpaid, 3.35 million prepaid and 1.18 million mobile broadband users.

Allen Lew, Optus Chief Executive, believes the company has ‘demonstrated resilience’ with continued customer growth as they move towards the completion of its ‘unique-to-Australia’ 5G service.

In light of issues regarding missed appointments and poor installations for NBN connections, Optus is positioning its 5G service for those ‘large numbers of homes that want faster broadband, despite the National Broadband Network’.

At the recent launch of the 5G service and a demonstration of the plug and play Nokia Smart 5G modem, Mr Lew said the service delivered close to half a gigabit speeds and that there is ‘no need to take a day off to wait for a truck role’.

In fact in the recent ACCC draft decision from the Wholesale Service Standards Inquiry, covered by ChannelNews, Optus supported a daily rebate for missed connections as a more meaningful incentive for the NBN Co to act promptly to address issues, claiming that RSPs have little control over connection delays.

Optus even went as far to propose transparent independent oversight for the NBN Co similar to other regulated industries where the quality of service has been a concern, something that Telstra supported as well.

It comes after Optus delivered comprehensive coverage for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a massive improvement over its shoddy coverage of the 2018 men’s FIFA World Cup, which saw SBS take over broadcast for select games.