$91m NZ loss adds to Telstra deficit

By PETER GRIFFIN

Telstra's half-year result was dented further by a A$75 million ($91.7 million) loss from TelstraClear, the company's loss-making interest in the New Zealand market.

TelstraClear, which has remained unprofitable as it embarks on a capital-intensive programme of expansion locally, contributed the majority of the A$89 million losses on Telstra's books from outside entities that Telstra has stakes in.

Telstra is recorded as having a 58.4 per cent stake in TelstraClear at the end of the half-year period.

The telco is in the process of increasing that to 62 per cent as it assumes more of the investment burden for the venture, leaving troubled Australian pay TV operator Austar with the remaining 38 per cent of the company.

While the loss from TelstraClear increased $22 million on the previous corresponding period, Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski was confident that newly merged TelstraClear would get costs under control - and be a credible number two player in the market.

"The merged company should realise substantial cost efficiencies," he said yesterday.

TelstraClear is yet to indicate a reduction in its $1.2 billion, five-year capital expenditure plan.