SingTel's Optus Won't Comment On AAPT Speculation
PERTH (Dow Jones)- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s (T48.SG)) Australian unit Optus on Friday declined to say whether it is in discussions to buy AAPT, an Australian unit of Telecom New Zealand (NZT).
Asked by reporters whether there have been any talks with AAPT, Optus Chief Executive Paul O'Sullivan said "no comment."
"We are always open to opportunities, but we're not naturally acquisitive by nature," he said, when pressed by a reporter whether a company like AAPT would be of interest to Optus.
"We get approached by many companies, especially at a time when the industry is under pressure," he said after speaking at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch in Perth.
"We are continually evaluating and looking at opportunities for investment," he added.
O'Sullivan told the luncheon that Optus has grown its revenues over the past 13 years from start-up to around A$7 billion per annum, roughly one-third the current sales of bigger rival Telstra Corp. Ltd. (TLS.AU).
But most of the growth has been via "putting out the brand and acquiring customers ourselves," he said.
There has been widespread media speculation that Optus - which is battling intense competition from Telstra and Vodafone Plc. (VOD) - has instigated talks with Telecom New Zealand over AAPT.
Some analysts speculate that AAPT - Australia's fourth biggest telco by sales - could fetch up to A$1 billion.
Referring to the need for effective competition in Australia's telecommunications market, O'Sullivan criticized Telstra for wanting to "overturn the wholesale pricing structure" that allows its smaller rivals, including Optus, to access Telstra's copper wire network.
"They would like the Government to raise the prices that competitors must pay in the fees, so that all of us will find it more difficult to compete with them," he said.
Telstra, the former incumbent in Australia, "wants its monopoly back", he added.
Telstra is 51.8% owned by the Australian government. The government is planning to sell its Telstra stake in the fourth quarter of next year in a privatization that could fetch A$34 billion (US$26 billion).
-By Stephen Bell, Dow Jones Newswires
61-2-8235-2950 djnews.sydney@dowjones.com
-Edited by Paul Dekkers
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 14th October 2005
