OPTUS UPGRADES CABLE BROADBAND TO DELIVER SUPERSONIC SPEEDS IN BRISBANE, MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY

From today, Optus cable customers in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will be among the first Australians to experience supersonic broadband with the upgrade of Optus' Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) cable network to deliver speeds up to four times faster than ever before.

"The upgrade of our HFC network to DOCSIS 3.0 demonstrates another significant investment from Optus. Australians are hungry for high speed broadband, so we've upgraded our cable network to provide the broadband speeds of tomorrow, today," said Michael Smith, Optus Consumer Managing Director.

More than 1.4 million households across the three capital cities will have access to higher speed broadband when they upgrade to the Optus Premium Speed Pack from just $15^ per month. The Optus Premium Speed Pack is available as a bolt-on to a range of Optus 'yes' Fusion and home phone and broadband bundles, with plans starting from as little as $49.95 for a huge 120GB of data per month*.

Optus is able to offer these higher speeds due to an upgrade of its HFC network in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to DOCSIS 3.0 technology. The upgrade is the first multi-city roll-out of DOCSIS 3.0 technology in the country.

Optus Consumer Managing Director, Michael Smith said that the upgrade will be welcomed by speed hungry consumers and broadband-sharing families alike - allowing faster speeds and significantly improved video streaming even when multiple internet enabled devices are being used simultaneously on the same connection.

"We continue to bring value and freedom to our customers by developing plans that are easy to understand and represent great value. With the Premium Speed Pack available as a bolt on to our existing broadband offers, we are proving once again that when Optus brings new technology to market we make it affordable and accessible to our customers," Mr Smith said.

For further information on the Optus Premium Speed Pack plus Optus' wide range of home phone and broadband bundles, please visit Premium Speed 'yes' Fusion and Premium Speed Broadband + Home Phone.

Media contact:
Liz Greene
Optus Corporate Affairs
Tel: (02) 8082 1132

^Only available in selected areas with an eligible 24 month cable broadband plan. Various factors affect actual speed including your plan's data and throttle limits, content location, hardware, software and congestion. Premium speeds apply to most Australian hosted content.
*Minimum Total Cost: $2547.56 for $49.99 120GB plan with $20.00 Optus Premium Speed Pack bundled with $29.95 Home Starter Cap Plan over 24 months.