2012 Australia - Telco Company Profiles - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone

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Last updated: 24 Oct 2012 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 123

Analyst: Paul Budde

Publication Overview

BuddeComm’s Australia - Telco Company Profiles - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone annual publication provides information on the major providers (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone). This report provides analyses and detailed revenue and operational statistics for the tier-1 operators in the Australian market.

The 2nd Tier Telcos are covered in a separate report - Australia - Telco Company Profiles - 2nd Tier

Researchers:- Paul Budde, Stephen McNamara
Current publication date:- October 2012 (18th Edition)

Executive Summary

Revenues from the Tier 1 telcos flatten, as market continues to increase into 2013

In 2012 annual revenue growth from the two of the major telco providers was around 1%, while Vodafone the smaller of the major players saw a double digit revenue decrease. While total subscriber numbers also increased, a major impact in revenue has been the decrease in the average revenue per user (ARPU) margin. The telcos have increased their capital expenditure in the last year in new faster networks aiming to keep and attract customers and in turn upping the ARPU margin. In this publication we provide information on the telco revenues, ARPU and capex and also analyse these major telecommunication providers operationally and on other financial measures.

Telstra remains the largest telecommunications provider in Australia, offering a full suite of telecom services. The company also provides basic access services to all users in Australia as well as services to most homes and businesses. Individual services total more than 27 million and include – local and long-distance telephone call services, fixed-broadband, mobile voice and mobile internet services. Wholesale services including 3G mobile services are also provided to ISPs and RSPs, while digital media services and subscription television services are supplied through subsidiary companies.

Telstra’s transitional process clearly shows that it shares the vision that has been developed around the national broadband network (NBN). But not only that, the company is now emerging as a leader in the industry – putting its new approach into practice, with a focus on the customer, innovation and new business opportunities including healthcare, education, energy, commerce and media.

Optus also offers a full range of communications services that include cloud, mobile, national and long-distance services, local and international telephony, business network services, broadband, satellite and wholesale services. Digital media services are a new service offered in 2012, while subscription TV is still offered on cable and by satellite.

Vodafone Australia is the smaller of the mobile carriers in Australia with the two equal shareholders being Vodafone Group and Hutchison Telecoms. The company provides mobile voice and mobile internet services through a comprehensive suite of prepaid and postpaid to both consumer and business customers. Wholesale MVNO services are also provided to other telecommunication service providers.

By September-2012 Telstra has seen large increases in 4G LTE voice and mobile broadband services and is keen to expand in this growing area over the next couple of years. The last couple of years have seen extraordinary growth in prepaid mobile connections and in 2012 prepaid numbers now exceed postpaid services. Optus will be keen to see similar 4G uptake while Vodafone can only hope that subscribers return to its upgraded 3G network in 2013.

The question now is whether Telstra as well as the other telcos will be able to embrace the developments around the digital economy. As the operational and financial results of 2012 are only showing small growth in subscribers, revenue growth is also showing small growth. New growth opportunities may come from the digital media divisions of the companies if the correct market timing and an unfettered approach is adopted.

Another way to obtain new growth strategies may be based on new digital services based on trans-sector services including e-health, tele-education, e-government, smart grids, IoT (M2M). These all require a utilities-based wholesale infrastructure that is separated from the retail services that will be carried over them. The NBN will be just one of those infrastructure services that will be available to the telcos to grow services.

In this report BuddeComm provides an overview of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone’s main areas of operation including their strategic operational units and their local subsidiary companies. Also included is detailed financial result information in the current financial year as well as historical summaries. This information includes revenue, EBIDTA, capex, profit and an analysis of the results.

We also provide recent key operating statistics in the subscriber areas mobile, internet, fixed and mobile-broadband, 4G as well as providing past figures detailing historical trends in the market. Figures are provided in analysis, in text, tabular and in easy-to-read chart formats.

Market highlights:

  • 2G spectrum being refarmed to 3G for more coverage and higher broadband speed accessibility.
  • Subscriber statistics for mobile voice and mobile broadband by the major operators.
  • Vodafone losing market share as subscribers churn and Vodafone subscriber market share may only be 50% of that of Telstra by 2013.
  • Subscribers taking up 4G services with more to 4G services to become available into 2013.
  • Telstra now the king of prepaid subscribers with more prepaid subscribers than postpaid.
  • Customer ARPU is decreasing in mobile voice and mobile broadband.
  • By end-2012 an annual growth of around 2% sees the total market at $43.8 billion while by 2013 the market will be around $44.7 billion.
  • Capital expenditure increased 8% in 2012 as the operators ramp up services aiming to increase market share.

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