Optus’ Australian accounts show $480m loss

Telecommunications group Optus has incurred a $480 million annual net loss, confirming a slump in demand for traditional telecommunications services such as desk phones and a financial hit from last year’s national network outage.

The loss for the 12 months to March 31, which was more than six-fold the previous year’s $79 million loss, was mostly because of a $582 million writedown blamed on “churn and price erosion” in Optus’ enterprise business.