Optus’ revenue slid in the 2016 fourth quarter, with the telco noting the impact of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s regulated reduction of industry mobile termination rates.
Operating revenue of $2.07 billion was down 9.3 per cent year-on-year, however net profit of $247 million was up 3.5 per cent. Meanwhile, for the full year, Optus posted operating revenue of $9.12 billion, up 3.7 per cent year-on-year, and net profit of $901 million, up 7.1 per cent.
“Operating revenue declined 9 per cent due to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s regulated reduction of industry mobile termination rates, but with minimal impact on profitability,” Optus stated in releasing the results.
Optus noted that from January 1 this year, all carriers’ mobile termination rates had declined from 3.6 cents per minute to 1.7 cents per minutes for calls, and 7.5 cents to 0.03 cents for SMS.
Optus added 231,000 4G customers in the quarter, and at the end of the period had 4.68 million 4G Plus customers, up 33 per cent year-on-year.
Optus’ total number of mobile customers came in at 9.34 million, down from 9.43 million year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Optus now has 113,000 NBN customers, and 1.07 million broadband customers.
“The strong results which Optus has reported over the last year reinforces that our focus on providing convergent mobile, fixed and multimedia services, combined with our innovative offers, is gaining traction with Australians,” Allen Lew, Optus chief executive officer, commented.
“We are well on track to achieve our three-year targets which will see us transform our core business, by investing in mobile networks and content services.”
