SINGAPORE: The rights to English Premier League soccer delivered 107,000 new customers to Optus in the three months to September 30.
Overall, Optus’ mobile revenue fell 7 per cent in the period, with regulated price cuts to the amount telcos pay each other to connect mobile calls between networks costing it about $186 million, it said on Thursday.
Fox Sports inks deals with six major English Premier League clubs after Optus scooped the broadcast rights for the next three seasons.
And parent Singapore Telecommunications has warned that Optus’s mobile service revenue is expected to decline by “mid teens” for the full financial year to March 31.
Optus’ mobile customer numbers jumped to 9.42 million in the three months to September 30, from 9.33 million in June, a gain it attributed to the launch of its sports channels with the EPL. It paid $150 million over three years for the digital rights to the EPL, which is available only to customers on post-paid plans.