Optus, a part of Singtel, has revealed its financial result – revenue, profit, Capex and Opex – for January-March 2024.
Optus says its revenue fell 1.1 percent to A$4,044 million during January-March 2024, and rose 0.1 percent to A$8,062 million in fiscal 2024.
Opex of Optus fell 2.8 percent to A$3,034 million during January-March 2024, and grew 0.2 percent to A$6,096 million.
Optus said it is expecting to lower its capital expenditure (Capex) to A$1.2 billion in fiscal 2025 against A$1.4 billion in fiscal 2024.
Expansion of the Optus 5G mobile network continued with coverage reaching more than 80.5 percent of the Australian population across over 4,000 5G sites as at 31 March 2024.
REVENUE
Optus says growth in mobile service and home revenues were moderated by the decline in enterprise fixed service margins.
Optus added 116,000 subscribers to its mobile customer base, including growth of 108,000 prepaid customers, underpinned by strong performance from amaysim.
Despite the challenges of November’s network outage, momentum returned in the fourth quarter, with overall Mobile and Home revenue each growing by 2 percent in the full year.
Optus Interim CEO and CFO Michael Venter said the results demonstrated a solid performance in a difficult environment, as Optus remained focussed on enhancing customer experience.
“Optus is working hard to rebuild the trust of customers after a challenging 18 months and these results demonstrate we are on the right track,” Michael Venter said.
“We’re listening to our customers and in the year ahead we’ll be continuing to prioritise what we know is important to them – a resilient network that delivers seamless connectivity, great value products and services, and simple, efficient customer service.”
Optus was recognised as Australia’s fastest 5G for mobile download speeds by Opensignal for the sixth time in a row and was also the most awarded carrier, winning nine categories including best video experience and most consistent quality overall.
Optus became the first carrier in Australia to hit speed of 800 Gbps across its optical network between Sydney and Melbourne.
Optus announced a regional Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) agreement with TPG Telecom. The agreement will deliver enhanced capacity, speed and service to Optus customers in regional Australia and see Optus fast track the roll-out of 5G to regional and rural areas, with 2,444 regional 5G sites to be delivered two years earlier than previously planned.
Coverage of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 delivered Optus Sport its biggest month in history alongside 100 million video views, 7 million article reads, and a total reach across all social media platforms of 3.6 million.
Mobile service revenue was up 4.2 percent on the back of price rises in postpaid which lifted total ARPU by 2.3 percent, higher content revenue, and continued growth in the number of prepaid customers. Mobile equipment revenue declined 3.8 percent, reflecting lower sales volume of higher end devices.
Consequently, overall Mobile revenue rose 1.8 percent. Wholesale, Fleet and Enterprise Fixed revenue fell 16 percent in the half, largely due to a decline in the fixed carriage component of the Enterprise business driven by price erosion and churn.
Wholesale revenue also decreased as a result of lower satellite equipment sales and a strategic exit from NBN. Attention to cost management saw operating expenses fall 2.8 percent from lower cost of goods sold and staff costs which were partly offset by higher energy and content costs.
