The Fairfax press is reporting Q4 profits for Optus, Australia's second-largest telecommunications company. The $177mn profit on $2.4bn revenue is slightly up from the same in 2010, suggesting that Optus is doing well despite rising competition.
Mobile services, including mobile phones and mobile broadband, accounted for two thirds of revenue. Optus is currently the 4th largest ADSL provider in Australia, behind Telstra, iiNet and TPG, with 208 exchanges. Optus has abandoned an off-net service, where a re-sold Telstra connection is offered at exchanges not carried by Optus' own equipment. Optus still maintains a strong presence in Enterprise markets, providing comprehensive telecommunication packages to businesses, complete with mobile phone fleets.
Photo credit optus.com.au
In total, Optus currently holds on to 9.4 million mobile connections, which has lead to some concern over the ability of the network to handle the rise in traffic. In response, Optus is rolling out its own Long Term Evolution (LTE) network upgrade. Telstra has started offering phones and plans on their own limited LTE/4G network, while Vodafone is rapidly building their own upgraded network. In all, the three providers are fiercely competing in a market where 65% of phones are capable of data-hungry internet services, with that ratio expected to rise sharply this year. The three firms are also competing when it comes to the exclusive launch of hotly anticipated phones, with Optus just recently announcing themselves as the exclusive carrier for the Nokia Lumia 710, the first handset to come from the collaboration of Nokia and Microsoft, at the beginning of March.
Another big source of revenue is Optus' wide wholesale market for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), which allows internet providers to provide a mobile service without having to set up their own network of towers. Optus is now the largest wholesaler of mobile phone networks, with Virgin Mobile, Dodo, TPG and iPrimus amongst the larger companies reselling an Optus connection.
Amongst the plans contributing to Optus' recent success are the $59 Cap, which comes with an industry leading $750 call credit and 2GB of data. Popular phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2 are free with this plan, while the iPhone 4S starts at $6/month.
To find out about this and other offers, call Optus on 1300 279 414.