Cable & Wireless Optus has recorded the highest level of mobile sales in the history of the company in the three months to December 2000.

Paul O'Sullivan, Managing Director Mobile, Cable & Wireless Optus, said it was a fantastic quarter for both Optus and the industry as mobile sales boomed over Christmas.

"Optus is breaking records across the board. This quarter we had record new subscribers, record WAP sales and record SMS usage," he said.

Optus added 338,000 new net additions to its mobile customer base. The company now has over 3.4 million mobile customers, up 11 per cent from the previous quarter.

WAP activations are up over 100 per cent over the previous quarter, while Optus customers are now sending over 10 million SMS a week.

"We are continuing to close the gap on Telstra - confirming our challenger brand position in the mobile marketplace. In the last two years we have grown from 50 to 70 per cent of their size," said Mr O'Sullivan.

"Over the last quarter we have continued to focus on improving our high-value customer profile. At a time when you would expect pre-paid sales to dominate the Christmas market, the majority of our sales have been to higher value contract customers.

"Loyalty among high-value customers also improved the retail customer churn rate which fell from 20 per cent to 16 per cent - an outstanding performance in a highly competitive market," said Mr O'Sullivan.

"This reflects the success of our innovative products and ideas, such as the recently launched 'yes' Rollover plans. This offer gives Optus customers up to three months, instead of one month, to use the included call component of their contract - this has been a big winner for us this quarter.

"The success of this and our other innovative 'yes' branded initiatives are what has kept Optus at the leading edge, delivering record results and confirming our status as the strong challenger brand," Mr O'Sullivan said.

For more information contact:
Stephen Woodhill
Cable & Wireless Optus
Tel: 02 9342 7850