Hutchison Telecommunications Australia reports $167.7m loss

Hutchison Telecommunications Australia has reported a $167.7 million loss for the full year ended 31 December 2011, opposite with its $73.4 million profit for the same period in 2010.

HTA's share of Vodafone Hutchison Australia service revenue was $2,044.2 million, down 7.1 per cent during operating margin was $1,510.2 million, down 10.7 per cent. Just in case, earnings earlier interest, tax depreciation and amortisation were $312.7 million, a decline of 34.3 per cent.

VHA chief executive, Nigel Dews, said 2011 was a "challenging year" for the company as it recovered from network issues and clients switching to other telecommunication companies , nevertheless it had made good progress in many areas.

Shift to smartphones continued to increase

A shift to smartphones continued to increase, with more than half of VHA's total handset base now using a smartphone. The number of clients using data on their handset increased 24.2 per cent in the year to 2.7 million at 31 December 2011. The total number of clients using 3G services, including mobile broadband clients, increased by 500,000 while the year to 3.5 million.

"Our new 3G 850 megahertz network, built for data, is over two-thirds complete and is now delivering clients a better smartphone experience and we have introduced a network guarantee for new clients," Dews said.

"Our network upgrade and equipment replacement program is as well running at full pace and we have begun to integrate new sites into the network."

The new 850MHz network

He added that more than 1000 sites are live on the new 850MHz network and a total of 1500 3G 850MHz sites are expected to be live across the network in the third quarter of 2012.

"Equipment has been replaced with new single Radio Access Network equipment cross more than 4000 sites," he said.