The telecommunications company today revealed plans to bundle more services with its telecommunications offerings and expand its residential broadband reach.
Announcing the company's third quarter financial result today, Primus Telecom Australia managing director Greg Wilson said the carrier was finalising a wholesale agreement with Telstra that would allow it to bundle GSM service with its current offerings.
Initially Primus will target the mobile service at the business market but Wilson hinted that the telco would proceed with its roll-out with an eye also fixed on the consumer market.
"Initially we'll target the business market -- that doesn't mean we won't be doing anything in the consumers market but our main focus will be business...in the consumer space it will of course give us a full bundled suite of products for our existing and future customers," said Wilson.
Primus has put a tentative launch date for the mobile service for late in the fourth quarter of 2002 or early in the first quarter 2003.
Reinforcing Primus Telecom Australia's plans to expand its bundling approach to the delivery of telecommunications services, Wilson reiterated the company's message to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on the Telstra-Optus-Foxtel deal.
"If Telstra or any other of our competitors ends up with the ability to be able to bundle Pay-TV services with their traditional telephony and Internet data products then, we must be able to do likewise," he said.
While Telstra's key broadband competitors seem shy about targeting the residential market Wilson has given strong indications that Primus Australia is willing to make strategic investments in order to descend on the sector.
He said the company was currently undertaking market research as a prelude to constructing new broadband exchanges beyond the 40 the company currently operates in the central business districts of major metropolitan centres.
"We are looking at targeting particular residential areas where we believe broadband take-up by customers will be [high]," he said.
When asked whether Primus Australia had any concerns about the Telstra sale, Wilson was indifferent.
"We have no input as to what the government will do with Telstra," said Wilson. "They will be just as fierce a competitor being privatised or part-owned by the government, so it doesn't really worry me what the outcome of that [decision] is," he said.
