OPTUS CONNECTS COMMUNITIES WITH 2011 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT

Optus today released its 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report, Connecting Communities, for the financial year ending 31 March 2011. This is the 12th report Optus has published as part of its commitment to being transparent about its progress on social, customer and environmental impacts.

Key report highlights include:

Commitment to the community - fostering connections to reduce social isolation
Optus is committed to positively contributing to community development through its financial giving, people, products and services by focusing on assisting disengaged young people and building social inclusion.

• Invested $9.4 million towards community partnerships, programs and employee giving and fundraising initiatives
• Contributed over $1.9million to Queensland disaster relief and reconnected communities by donating 2,000 handsets and prepaid SIM cards
• Launched 'Mobile Student2Student' in partnership with the Smith Family which provides young people in regional communities the opportunity to improve their literacy levels through the use of mobile phones

Commitment to customers - improving customer experience
Optus strives to deliver an exceptional customer experience and enable telecommunications access by bringing its products and services to market in a responsible and transparent manner.

• Invested a total of $1.02billion in telecommunications infrastructure to enhance network reach and performance
• Increased choice and competition in regional Australia by bringing dedicated mobile coverage for the first time to 14 remote towns
• Achieved an 87.7 per cent Voice of the Customer score in our customer satisfaction survey

Commitment to our people - increasing employee engagement
With a workforce of over 10,000 employees, Optus aims to create a working environment that attracts and retains the best people by focusing on staff wellbeing and engagement, rewards and recognition and flexible working.

• Won the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) Martin Seligman Award for Health & Wellbeing
• More than 1,000 non-customer facing employees participated in our 'Back to the Floor' program to interact with our customers and better understand their experience
• Encouraged flexible working with 57 per cent of our people using a form of flexible work practices during the reporting period

Commitment to environmental sustainability - minimising our environmental impact
Optus is committed to reducing its environmental footprint through best practice in the management of its operations, processes, products, services and suppliers.

• Increased the number of Optus customers signed up to online billing, saving 4.8 million pieces of paper per month
• Increased the proportion of recyclable packaging to 81 percent, up 10 percent from last year
• Collected over 120,000 mobile phones weighing 4.5 tonnes for the MobileMuster recycling program

Jann Kohlman, Optus Sponsorship and Community Programs Group Manager, said "Optus remains committed to improving our customer experience and connecting communities right across Australia while operating in a responsible and sustainable manner.

"We are especially proud we were able to support affected communities during the Queensland floods and cyclones as well as assisting the New Zealand and Japan earthquakes relief efforts through our Text to Donate initiative. This new initiative enabled Optus mobile customers to donate $5 via SMS and is the first collaborative partnership with the Australian Red Cross and Be Interactive."

To view the full report, please visit www.optus.com.au/corporateresponsibility

Media contact:
Dianne Edwards
Optus Corporate Affairs
Optus Media Hotline: (02) 8082 7850