Singtel, the company’s Singapore-based owner, is reportedly discussing a sale of Australia’s second-largest telco with Canadian asset manager Brookfield – a move that, if it goes through, could spark a price war that would benefit Australian customers.
“Consumer-wise… it’s actually probably a good thing,” analyst Evan Lucas told 9News.
“In the short term they probably will create a price war because they know they can grab market share really quickly,” he added.
However, any such deal is still likely a fair way away.
“Yes, they’re in ‘advanced talks’, but advanced talks does not mean a deal,” Lucas said.
“The price clearly still hasn’t been settled.”
New name at top of Australia’s most trusted brands
Even if an agreement is reached between Singtel and Brookfield, any deal would come under close scrutiny from Australian regulators given telecommunication services are considered essential infrastructure.
“The regulator is the unknown quantity here and they will have a lot to say,” Evans said.
Singtel has owned Optus since 2001, but the Australian telco has caused headaches for its Singaporean parent company in recent years.
Singtel said last month that the outage cost it $61 million.
“It’s been some time since the Optus breach… but they haven’t really been able to turn around sentiment,” Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said.