The carrier, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications, revealed the figure in its Management Discussion and Analysis of Unaudited Results of Operations, released with the results of its trading for year ended 31 March 2003. It said "A key strategy has been to reduce reliance on the incumbent's network when connecting new business customers.
"The Optus business network provides service to over 9,000 buildings.
"[Eighty percent] of new services in this financial year were provided using Optus network infrastructure - fibre, radio, DSL or satellite".
The move comes amid ongoing tension between the number two telecommunications carrier and majority government-owned heavyweight Telstra over pricing and conditions governing access to the number one telecommunications carrier's network.
Overall, SingTel Optus reported a bottom-line profit of AU$28 million for the year, compared to a net loss of AU$402 million last year. However, a one-off exceptional tax credit of AU$308 million pushed the profit to AU$336 million for the year.
Optus' Mobile division also posted positive results, with total customer numbers increasing by 14 percent over the year to 4.7 million, with a churn rate of 1.5 percent. The company also recorded a nine percent increase in 'minute of use' of its mobile network, and reported that mobile data accounted for 14 percent of service revenue in the quarter ending March 31.
Regional areas will see more mobile telecommunications competition with Optus planning to increase its number of mobile base stations by another 400 in the next financial year in regional areas that are important to the business market. The carrier presently operates around 3,500 stations.
