Optus today announced it has entered into an agreement with Yahoo! Australia & NZ which will see Yahoo! Search Technology power web search results on the OptusNet dialup and broadband portals. This agreement ends Optus' three-year relationship with Sensis/Looksmart.
According to the latest RedSheriff results, OptusNet is the most frequented ISP portal in Australia, with over 1.6 million users¹. Effective today, Yahoo! Search will power the four million monthly search requests from OptusNet users.
"Today's agreement demonstrates our recognition of the consumer demand for the best possible search experience. We are meeting customer needs head-on by delivering to them relevant, timely and comprehensive search results.
"Our partnership with Yahoo! is yet another initiative that demonstrates our commitment to providing a premium user experience," Scott Lorson, Acting Managing Director of Consumer and Multimedia said.
Yahoo! Search now has a presence on the OptusNet, ninemsn/MSN, Fairfax Digital, News Interactive and OzEmail networks, which have a combined reach of over seven million people and 75 per cent² of the active monthly internet audience.
"We're pleased Australia's leading ISP portal, Optus, is joining the strong roster of companies now using Yahoo!'s Search Technology," Peter Crowe, Head of Search, Yahoo! Australia & NZ said. "By engaging with over seven million people each month Yahoo! Search is quickly establishing itself locally as a leading search player."
Mr Lorson said, "Yahoo! was an obvious choice for Optus. We look forward to leveraging Yahoo!'s truly unique assets including a world-class search team with the proven ability to generate innovative search results for our users."
According to the Nielsen/NetRatings Online Customer Association Index in April 04, the OptusNet broadband portal continues to enjoy the highest rates of customer interaction of any of the ISP portals. Optus recently announced that it had achieved 200,000 OptusNet Broadband subscribers.
For more information:
Sheila Dhillon
Optus Corporate Affairs
Phone: +61 2 9342 9021
Tamsin Smith
Yahoo! Australia & NZ
Phone: +61 2 8925 0126
¹Source Red Sheriff - Unique Visitors for OptusNet Portals July '04
²Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView July 2004
About Optus
Optus is Australia's leading integrated communications company - serving around six million customers each day. The company provides a broad range of communications services including mobile, national and long distance services, local telephony, business network services, internet and satellite services and subscription television.
Since commencing operations in 1992, Optus has invested more than $10bn in the construction of fixed, mobile and satellite networks, including central business district and suburban local access networks. These networks provide the company with an advanced technology platform capable of delivering integrated communications, information and entertainment services.
Optus became a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of SingTel on August 30, 2001 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 10 September 2001. SingTel is one of the leading stocks on the ASX and is the number one stock on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
About Yahoo! Australia & NZ
Yahoo! is the global leader in online audiences(+) and the best known online media brand in the minds of Australian consumers(++) who see us as fun, friendly and highly innovative. Along with a critical mass of over 4 million Australians each month(+) who use Yahoo! for everything from search to mail to personals, Yahoo! offers sophisticated targeting capabilities, enabling our clients to mass market or target market effectively.