Alphawest cuts 33 jobs as Optus grows net profit

An Optus spokesperson told CRN that Alphawest recently undertook a review of its business which resulted in an organisational restructure.

The aim of this restructure was to create a “sustainable and efficient organisation” which is more closely aligned to the needs of its customers.

"As a result of the review and restructure Alphawest has made 33 staff redundant,” claimed the spokesperson.

“Redundancies have ocurred where duplication of roles has been identified, or a process has been streamlined. Senior and middle management as well as sales, operational and support staff have been affected. Customer delivery staff numbers have been maintained.”

According to the spokesperson, in the current competitive environment, there was a need to find the right balance between managing costs and providing the service to its customers.

“The outcome of this review will leave us well placed to continue to deliver market leading products and services to our customers in conjunction with Optus Business," they said.

The announcement comes off the back of Optus’ parent company’s – Singapore Telecom (SingTel)– financial results for the second quarter of 2008.

According to a statement to the ASX, Optus delivered an increase in operating revenue of 6.8 percent to $2.06 billion.

The growth was achieved despite the telco’s decision to exit the “Consumer Fixed” resale market.

According to SingTel, excluding the impact of the resale exit, and adjusting for the migration to on-net, operating revenue grew 9.4 percent.

However margin declined from 24.7 percent to 23.2 percent, although this excludes the incremental impact of the iPhone 3G initiative and associated equipment revenue mix, underlying Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation Amortisation (EBITDA) margin would be 26.2 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from a year ago.

Paul O’Sullivan, chief executive officer at Optus, claimed, free cash flow amounted to $265 million, down 5.1 percent with higher working capital offset by lower capital expenditure. Net profit for the quarter grew 1.8 percent to $125 million.

“These are positive results from Optus and our accelerating top-line growth in mobile reflects our focus on driving mobile performance. Compelling and market-changing offers like the iPhone 3G and ‘yes’ Timeless plans contributed to growth in our subscriber base,” he said.

While Singapore Telecom also announced that operating revenue grew 5.3 percent to S$3.89 billion in the second quarter from a year ago boosted by strong performance across Singapore and Australia where both recorded their best quarterly growth in the postpaid mobile market in recent years.

Underlying net profit in the quarter fell 12 percent to S$801 million because of the iPhone 3G initiative, the weaker regional currencies, lower earnings from Telkomsel caused by price competition and the inclusion of S$41 million post-tax loss from Warid Telecom.

It would have declined 5 percent excluding the impact of the depreciation of the Australian dollar and regional currencies.

Net profit declined 12 percent to S$868 million after including the exceptional items and the currency translation gain of S$67 million in the quarter.

Free cash flow was stable for the first half of the financial year at S$1.7 billion compared to a year ago.

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