Spark's reporting a 78-percent drop in first half profit

Shares -- already down 42-percent on a year ago -- have fallen another 15-percent on opening trade.

The telecommunications company says it's been experiencing "one of the longest and deepest recessionary periods in recent history".

It says the scale and pace of the downturn over the past year has been substantial, and OCR cuts haven't been enough to boost consumer and business spending.

Cost-cutting could be on the cards, including further job cuts.