It also reported a growth of mobile subscribers, both through its own marketing and through an acquisition, taking the total number to 706,000 recurring subscribers and a total of 1.05 million.

This included 41,000 through organic growth and another 41,000 through the acquisition of Jeenee Mobile.

However, amaysim said net revenue, at $244.4 million, was down 7.1% on the corresponding period a year ago, due to lower average revenue per user in both its mobile and energy business units.

There was a bigger fall in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, with the figure for the six months being $24 million, down 17.9% year-on-year. The reason advanced for this was increased spending on marketing which decreased mobile income while energy income remained at the same level of $18.7 million as in the corresponding six-month period in 2018-19.

Chief executive and managing director Peter O'Connell said the results showed that the company had made progress in its bid to be Australia's leading subscription utilities provider.

"Increased investment in mobile marketing initiatives has delivered exceptional subscriber growth during the period. Our plans in market are the most competitive they have ever been, enabled by our revitalised network supply agreement with Optus, signed in May 2019," he said.

"The agreement continues to underpin our mobile business and enables us to be more agile and competitive when it comes to launching and developing new customer offers."

O'Connell said regulatory changes were continuing to affect the energy business. "We continue to monitor and manage our margin amid this new regulatory environment. Given the uncertainty, we held back
some marketing investment in energy until we have regulatory stability and therefore more visibility on the impact to our business. Despite the pressure, we are pleased with the performance of the energy business in this half.

“We believe a major shift in Australia's energy market is imminent and with our new subscription energy plans now live in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, we are well placed to take advantage of this structural change. Ultimately our subscription energy plans are aligned to the regulators’ goals of making pricing simpler and more transparent, and in time, we believe subscription energy plans will become an important way in which consumers buy energy."