KEY POINTS:
Telecom's troubled Australian arm AAPT expects to move into cash-flow positive territory for the first time this month, says AAPT's chief executive, Paul Broad.
Broad made the encouraging forecast yesterday ahead of Telecom's annual meeting in Dunedin on Thursday.
AAPT recorded a A$26 million($30 million) loss in the year to June 30, still a 65 per cent improvement on the previous year.
Broad, previously chief executive of PowerTel, which AAPT bought in May, said operating costs had come down and he was hoping to drive profitability.
"I think we are reaching that turnaround point now."
Broad told the Australian Financial Review, "Cash is what makes the business tick, especially in telco land, and we're there now."
Broad said AAPT was still a "work in progress" since the purchase of PowerTel.
"The problem is there's not as much of a challenger mentality here [in Australia]. In New Zealand it's a monopoly, but it can't act or think like that over here."
Broad said the company was targeting operating costs to run at between 25 per cent and 26 per cent of revenue, which was an improvement on the more than 30 per cent figures it ran up previously.
In the year to June 30, operating expenses rose 3.1 per cent to $1.28 billion, while operating revenues grew only 0.3 per cent.
Broad said the broadband market, a battleground among AAPT's rivals Telstra and Optus, was a key area where the company didn't want to "give away value".
- NZPA
