OPTUS TREBLES LOCAL TELEPHONY CUSTOMERS ON CABLE

Cable & Wireless Optus today announced it had trebled the number of directly connected local telephony customers over the last year.

Andrew Gale, Director of Integrated Services and Operations, said there were now 300,000 local telephony customers connected to Cable & Wireless Optus' HFC network, three times the number of customers connected this time last year.

"This demonstrates that the demand for our cable based local call service is extremely strong and that people are continuing to look for choice and value in the local call market. We are connecting around 5,000 customers per week, which is continuing to add value to the HFC network.

"Most of these new customers are also taking advantage of the range of other services Optus has to offer, such as long distance telephony, cable television, dial-up Internet and cable modems for high speed internet access. Bundling services with local telephony means great deals for the customer," he said.

Mr Gale said that when combined with local call resale customers, Optus provided local call services to more than 800,000 people.

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