OPTUS SALES SOAR AS OPTUSNET FLIES PAST 250,000 SUBSCRIBERS

After a dramatic surge in broadband sales, Optus powered through a major milestone in September with the company reporting over 250,000 retail broadband subscribers. This result was achieved after a record breaking period in which Optus added over 50,000 new broadband subscribers in less than three months.

"The launch of OptusNet DSL has fuelled competition driving prices down, awareness up, and consumers into action," Scott Lorson, Acting Managing Director, Optus Consumer & Multimedia said.

With a strong brand, large customer base, and unparalleled reputation in the broadband market, Optus is uniquely positioned to challenge the incumbent's market dominance.

"After an initial launch phase aimed at increasing awareness, we are now focused on capturing market share. On the back of an aggressive tactical campaign, we saw sales records shattered in August and again in September, up more than 500 per cent from the same time last year. These results are particularly encouraging as we look to finalise our plans for a future network deployment," Mr Lorson said.

Optus now has over 190,000 cable broadband subscribers, and nearly forty per cent of telephony customers on the Optus HFC network receiving OptusNet broadband. In addition, Optus is set to become the largest DSL reseller with over 60,000 DSL subscribers already connected, and over 95 per cent choosing to bundle with an Optus home phone.

"The telecommunications market in Australia has entered one of the most exciting and turbulent periods in many years. The explosive growth of broadband is occurring at a time when the dial-up market has reached maturity, and fixed line revenues are under pressure," Mr Lorson said.

"While this creates short term challenges - with flat growth in fixed line revenues and dial-up revenues now in decline - the dramatic growth of the broadband market offers a tremendous opportunity to a well-resourced, scale player like Optus."

"As these results show, Optus is intensely focused on driving broadband growth. We are complementing our broadband strategy with our recently introduced aggressive challenger offers in the home phone market, and ongoing innovation and leadership in bundling," Mr Lorson said.

Optus plans to announce its half yearly results during the first week of November 2004. These results will include broadband subscriber numbers of 236,000 as at September 30, 2004.

For more information:
Sheila Dhillon
Optus Corporate Affairs
Phone: +61 2 9342 9021