Optus
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Optus is the second largest telecommunications company in Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidary of SingTel Template:Asx.
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Subsidaries
Optus is comprised of a number of subsidiaries:
- Optus Television (aka Optus Vision,Optus TV)
- Cable television service provided in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane
- Optusnet (aka Optus Net)
- Broadband Internet (via cable and ADSL) in All States
- Dial-Up Internet in All States
- Optus Mobile
- GSM (Digital) Mobile telephone network in All States
- Optus Communications
History
In the late 1980s, the Federal Labor government, led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, faced a financial dilemma with the nation's Aussat satellite system — used for both military and civilian satellite communications, and delivering television services to remote outback communities.
To alleviate the problem, the government decided to sell Aussat coupled with a telecommunications licence. The licence was sold to a consortium including Mayne Nickless, and insurance company AMP. The new telecommunications company was designed to provide competition to then government owned telecommunications company Telecom Australia; now known as Telstra.
The group began by building an interstate fibre optic cable and a series of exchanges between Optus' interstate network and Telecom's local network. It also laid fibre optics into major office buildings and industrial areas, and focused on high bandwidth local, (interstate) long distance, and interstate calls for business. In its early years, Optus was only able to offer local and long distance calls to residential customers connected to Telstra's local phone network. Telstra would carry residential to residential calls to Optus' exchanges, and then the calls would be switched to Optus' long distance fibre optic network.
However, this practice meant that Optus was (and still is) the single largest customer of their competitor, Telstra. To really become competitive, Optus would need to lay its own local phone network. To provide a killer application for this, the Australian federal government decided to sell subscription television licences. Optus, as well as the Seven network, businessman Kerry Packer and American cable company Cablevision, formed the Optus Vision consortium. The News Corporation and Telstra created the rival Foxtel consortium.
The broadband roll-out
Telstra's copper twisted pair local phone network did not in the early 1990s have the capability to deliver their Foxtel pay television to consumers. As such a need was identified for a broadband network to support this new product.
When the Foxtel and Optus Vision consortiums couldn't agree to terms on a joint broadband cable rollout, the two consortiums began laying out two independent and parallel cable networks, on top of Telstra's existing copper network, at a combined cost estimated at over A$6bn.
Whilst Foxtel focused on creating a broadband network specifically for broadcast, Optus Vision recognised an opportunity to design the network so that it could also be used to provide a telephony product.
The network was initially used to broadcast Cable TV only, but then in 1996 the first phone call was made across the Optus network and the activation of further telephony services followed.
Recent developments
Optus reached profitability, and merged with its subsidiary to form Cable and Wireless Optus. C&W Optus was later listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It was later taken over by Singapore Telecommunications and is now SingTel Optus.
In the 2003–2004 Financial Year, Optus reported a profit of AUD $440 million. This was an improvement of AUD $412 million from the previous year
External links
- Singtel (http://www.singtel.com/)
- Optus (http://www.optus.com.au/)
- Optusnet (Optus Internet) (http://www.optusnet.com.au/)