The rise in NBN migrations has helped Optus fend off headwinds in its enterprise business to produce $4.45 billion in revenue in the first half of FY20.
CRN typically covers results from Optus’s Australian enterprise business first, Optus Business, as it’s the most channel-oriented unit within the Singapore-owned telco. However, parent company Singtel this time around has mixed Optus Business’ results in with the rest of its operations in Singapore, Europe and the US.
The telco only briefly touched on Optus Business’ performance in its results announcement, saying that it was impacted by market headwinds and mentioned the recent partnership with nanosatellite IoT provider Myriota.
Overall, Optus grew revenue 1.8 percent in the six-month period ending 30 September 2019, while EBITDA rose 8 percent to reach $1.39 billion. At the same time, net profit fell 9.3 percent to $235 million.
Optus pinned its revenue and earnings success on customer growth and higher NBN migration payments, in reference to the launch of its NBN Concierge Program in June. The program oversees customer migrations to the NBN network and is intended to help smooth the migration process using Pega’s automation technology.
The launch resulted in an additional 80,000 NBN connections for Optus in the second quarter ending 30 September, as well as improving customer service, according to the telco.
The success of Optus’s NBN business may come as a surprise, as last week the company announced that it was “all in” with 5G after officially launching its in-home 5G broadband offering.
Optus CEO told CRN at the time that there was still room for NBN customers at Optus that don’t require the same high speeds available through 5G.
“With continuing momentum, we now move with confidence into the 5G era having launched our unique-to-Australia 5G service for both the home and mobile in recent weeks,” said Lew.
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