Vocus has for the first time released data on its total share of the NBN market. The telco said that as of the end of 2017 it had captured 8.8 per cent of the market, up from 7.4 per cent at the end of 2016.
(The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission releases quarterly snapshots of the state of the NBN wholesale market. The most recent NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report was released in February.)
“We’ve continued to take market share in NBN and UFB [New Zealand’s Ultra-Fast Broadband network],” Vocus Group CEO Geoff Horth told a half year results briefing. The telco has seen particular growth in the NBN wholesale segment, the CEO said.
“We’re on our way up to our ambition of greater than 10 per cent market share of NBN,” Horth said.
Vocus said NBN consumer market share grew from 7.3 per cent at the end of 2016 to 7.7 per cent. The company said growth slowed in the second quarter of FY18 due to the decision by NBN to temporarily halt sales of hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) services.
(NBN’s CEO, Bill Morrow, said earlier this month that company was not yet ready to reveal a timeline for completing work on its HFC network and ending the sales pause.)
Vocus reported statutory net profit after tax of $37.3 million for the six months to 31 December, down from $47.1 million in the prior comparable period. Underlying EBITDA grew 1 per cent to $188.8 million.
Horth said that the company was revising its full year guidance, with Vocus now expecting underlying EBITDA of $365-$380 million. Previously the company had forecast EBITDA of $370-$390 million.
Vocus revealed in January that it splitting its Enterprise & Wholesale business into separate Enterprise & Government and Wholesale & International divisions. Today’s results were reported based on the group’s old structure.
Read more: Vocus scraps sale of NZ business
Enterprise & Wholesale revenue was up 2.5 per cent to $392.1 million. Consumer revenue grew 5.7 per cent to $409.9 million, while NZ revenue increased 4.1 per cent to NZ$182.6 million.