Australia’s second largest telco, Optus, has lifted full year profit by 14.6 per cent to $835 million.
Revenue declined by five per cent and free cash flow by more than 15 per cent.
The result reflected strong cost management and yield improvement, Optus said.
Optus chief Paul O’Sullivan said the strong full year earnings performance demonstrated that the company was taking necessary steps to transform and restructure the business.
The telco’s performance declined in the fourth quarter of the year, with falls in revenue, margins, earnings and cash flow.
That reflected lower equipment sales, lower fixed revenues and lower incoming service revenues from a compulsory decline in mobile termination rates.
O’Sullivan said the result was also impacted by a cautious business environment.
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Optus said its 4G network now reached 75 per cent of Australia’s metropolitan population and the 3G coverage reaches 98 per cent.
The 4G mobile customer base was now 2.15 million, up from 1.81 million in the previous quarter.
The details were part of Optus parent company Singapore Telecommunications’ full year results, in which it increased net profit by four per cent to to $S3.65 billion.
However, operating revenue declined eight per cent with lower consumer revenue in Australia weighing on the performance.
