Optus continues to lose customers

Revenue and profit slipped at Australia's second biggest telco, Optus, during the first quarter of its fiscal year.

Optus signage.

Optus has suffered a slide in profit and revenues during the first quarter of its financial year. (AAP)

Optus continues to lose customers, contributing to another fall in revenue for the country's second largest telco.

The company lost 25,000 mobile customers in the three months to the end of June, taking its losses for the 2013/14 financial year to 126,000.

Optus now has 9.4 million mobile telephone and broadband customers, while Telstra added 937,000 new customers in the 2013/14 financial year, to 16 million.

Since June, Optus has launched an aggressive marketing effort and changes to its products - including data sharing across mobile devices.

The company's operating revenue fell three per cent in the three months to June to $2.06 billion, which included a $24 million fall in revenue from its mobile phone and broadband customers.

Profit in the three months to June dipped two per cent to $164 million, due to $24 million in one-off costs from the restructure of its workforce, which saw 350 job cuts in May.

Other staff were hired during the period, however, as the company had 9,015 employees as of June 30, just 73 fewer than in March.

CUSTOMERS, REVENUE AND PROFIT DOWN AT OPTUS

* Quarterly profit of $164m, down 1.8 pct from $167m in 2013

* Underlying profit of $187m, up 12.3 pct from $167m

* Operating revenue of $2.06b, down 2.8 pct from $2.12b


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