Origin Energy's migration to Superloop to complete by October

Origin Energy’s 130,000 broadband customers are set to be fully migrated from Aussie Broadband to Superloop-based services by October.

Phillip Britt, Aussie Broadband

The move, earmarked to begin in July, follows the cessation of Aussie Broadband’s wholesale agreement with Origin after the latter signed an “exclusive six-year wholesale contract” with Superloop in March.

Aussie Broadband is currently “in transition” with Origin Energy and is “actively exploring new opportunities” to fill the wholesale gap left by the contract’s end.

In its third-quarter shareholder update, ASX-listed Aussie Broadband said Origin broadband connections totalled 132,982.

“While the outcome of negotiations with Origin was disappointing, I remain confident in our growth trajectory,” Aussie Broadband co-founder and managing director Phillip Britt said.

“We have a number of strategies in place to deliver on our growth agenda, which we are in the process of executing.”

Commenting on Aussie Broadband’s recent $262 million acquisition of unified communications-as-a-service provider Symbio, Britt said he expected “further market consolidation and will look to participate in that where value can be created, and it makes strategic sense to do so”.

The last quarter also saw Aussie Broadband sell down part of its 19.9 percent stake in Superloop, after legal action to maintain the shareholding failed.

Superloop directed Aussie Broadband to divest shares to get back under a 12 percent cap, a requirement of Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), which required approval due to Superloop having some Singapore-based operations.

Britt said the divestment resulted in a one-off gain of $13.4 million, after transaction costs and before tax, adding that the company is awaiting Singapore’s regulatory approval process to be finalised.

Meanwhile, the third quarter saw Aussie Broadband add 14,788 broadband connections to its residential division, 2499 to business and 250 new customer sites in government and enterprise.

Aussie Broadband also said it had recently won a contract to connect broadband to 400 sites for a “major retail” customer, winning the deal from a rival telco.

iTnews has contacted Aussie Broadband for further details about the customer win.