Mobile phone users have given Cable & Wireless Optus a resounding 'Yes', subscribing in record numbers. For the third successive quarter, Optus is the fastest growing mobile network in Australia, with over 2.4 million customers.

Optus increased its digital mobile customer base by 15.3 per cent between October and December 1999, with the net addition of 315,000 digital customers. The company gained 42 per cent of total mobile net additions, well above its market share - the highest market share gain of the three carriers.

Optus now has 32.5 per cent of the total mobile market, an increase of 0.8 per cent over last quarter. The company has increased its share of the total mobile market for the last six successive quarters.

"We have consolidated our position as the fastest growing mobile network. Being the first to market with a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) service, we are also in an ideal position to capitalise on the new growth area in mobile data," said Paul O'Sullivan, Managing Director Mobile, Cable & Wireless Optus.

"We will continue to drive market growth with product innovation, flexible tariffs, quality network performance and expanded distribution channels," he said.

"Our pricing initiatives such as $0 effective access, 'Yes' Weekend and 'Yes' Time, have been well received by our customers. 'Yes' Time has been so successful that we are extending it until 31 January 2001," said Mr O'Sullivan.

"The mobile market is intensely competitive and we are prepared to vigorously defend our position against existing and new players - even if this results in a short term impact on our ARPU (Average Revenue per User) and margins," he said.

"To support our strong market growth and deliver increased coverage, capacity and call quality to our customers, we have invested heavily in our network infrastructure. For example, we have spent more than $230 million building 500 base stations so far this financial year.

"Next financial year we plan to build more than 700 base stations, spending more than $350 million," he said. Optus has already invested over $1.6 billion in its GSM digital mobile network.

Key Facts

Customer Numbers (as at 31 December 1999)

• Number of total mobile customers: 2.459 million
• Digital mobile customer numbers rose 15.3 per cent to 2.379 million
• Share of total mobile market increased by 0.8 per cent to 32.5 per cent
• Optus had the highest market share gain for the quarter. Optus gained 0.8 per cent of market share, Vodafone gained 0.5 and Telstra lost 1.3 per cent.
• Optus achieved a record in net additions during the quarter increasing 11 per cent to 253,000.

Total Mobile Customers

Digital refers to the combined total of GSM and CDMA customers.
Total mobile market refers to the combined total of AMPS, CDMA and GSM customers.

For more information:
Stephen Woodhill
Cable & Wireless Optus
Phone: (02) 9342 7850