If Optus were to secure the Champions League, it would call into question incumbent rights holder beIN Sports Australia's strategy. The Al Jazeera-owned sports channel, formerly known as Setanta, has struggled in Australia, despite being added to Foxtel's main sports package. It was the under-bidder for the EPL when Optus secured the rights, swooping in and beating Foxtel, back in 2015.

It holds local rights to European domestic football competitions, such as Germany's Bundesliga, Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A. However, the EPL is by far the most popular football competition in the world, and losing the Euros, and potentially the Champions League to Optus, could see the Qatari-based company rethink how it approaches the Australian market.

A point of difference

SBS, which already works with Optus on the World Cup and EPL, is also beIN's free-to-air partner for Champions League.

Football has been a key point of differentiation for Optus under Mr Lew, since he took up the job in 2014. While Mr Lew's favourite football team Arsenal, from the EPL, are no longer in the Champions League, having failed to qualify for the second season in a row, Optus' appetite to grab the elite competition has not waned.

Optus chief executive Allen Lew wants the telco to be the home of elite football. Edwina Pickles

The competition brings together the best of the best from competitions around Europe and is seen as the pinnacle of the sport for the athletes, outside of the World Cup, despite garnering far fewer viewers than the EPL.

The second season of Optus' EPL coverage has just come to an end, and combined with a deal it struck with National Geographic in July 2017, it has helped the telco grow its customers base. Over the 12 months to March 31, Optus had its strongest year of postpaid mobile subscriber growth since its 2010-11 financial year, adding 357,000 new customers in the segment.


Telstra, which warned last week its earnings would be at the bottom end of its guidance due to the competitive mobile landscape and poor margins on the National Broadband Network, signed a deal for mobile rights to the A-League, W-League, Socceroos and Matildas matches earlier in May, to go along with its digital rights to the NRL, AFL and netball.

With TPG Telecom's entry into the Australian mobile market expected in the next 12 months, launching with cutthroat pricing, Optus and Telstra are counting on content being a key way to make customers stickier, or less likely to leave to another provider.

Singtel CEO Chua Sock Koong said they did not take competition lightly, following the Singaporean company's results last Thursday.

"We have reviewed our position quite closely. We believe in giving compelling value to our customers, notice I said value not price," she said.