Optus' acting managing director of consumer and multimedia, Scott Lorson, lauded the resale DSL achievement, saying it was "particularly noteworthy, given this figure excludes broadband subscribers on [Optus' own] HFC cable network which runs through the metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane". Optus DSL customers are presently serviced by DSL connections bought wholesale from Telstra.
The number two telecommunications player's overall broadband customer base now totals 310,000, with 210,000 of those on cable broadband services.
Lorson said the result came as Optus was finalising plans to invest in its own DSL network. This plan would, he said, further drive retail competition in the Australian broadband market.
An Optus spokesperson declined to comment in detail on the plans, pointing to previous statements that the carrier had completed a comprehensive commercial and technical review of what is associated with a possible DSL network deployment. If the project goes ahead, it would require an initial investment of between AU$50 million and AU$100 million.
"[We] will progress to a decision phase in the near future," Optus said.
Lorson said: "We will continue our assault on the broadband market in 2005 by multiplying and retaining our subscriber base through product innovation and our highly effective broadband bundling offers".
"Optus has ... achieved exceptionally high bundling rates for its DSL base, with over 95 percent of DSL customers continuing to choose Optus for their home phone services," he added.
The number two carrier upped the ante on bundling in October last year, with residential customers who took on packages that include various combinations of home phone, post-paid mobile and broadband services being lured with several months' free broadband.
The carrier is due to announce its third quarter results this week.
Optus late last week called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to continue to legally pursue Telstra over allegedly anticompetitive deep retail broadband price cuts made by the telecommunications heavyweight last year. Telstra's rivals claimed the cuts were so deep they threatened the viability of their own retail broadband services, which were based on Telstra wholesale services.
