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Optus
This page considers Optus, SingTel and Cable & Wireless.
It covers -
introduction
Optus, the second largest telco, had around 1.1 million
fixed line services connected to its network and an estimated
34% share of the GSM mobile market.
Optus was launched in 1991 by a consortium that included
the Mayne logistics conglomerate, the AMP insurance group,
Cable & Wireless of the UK (24.5%) and US RBOC BellSouth
(24.5%). It acquired the ailing AUSSAT satellite operation
as part of a privileged competitive position prior to
the introduction of 'full competition'.
Optus launched an analogue mobile network in 1992 (with
digital GSM from 1994) and initially rolled out a high
capacity fibre network along the eastern seabord spine,
which as noted in the preceding page of this profile accounts
for most commercial traffic, and in major business centres.
That rollout emphasised high bandwidth local, long distance
and interstate corporate traffic: in the absence of a
parallel residential network Optus was forced to rely
on Telstra's local network for non-corporate calls, thus
becoming Telstra's major customer.
As the basis for rollout of a large scale residential
network (beginning with the more affluent or geographically
convenient suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane)
Optus sought to leverage its satellites through a pay
television service, which would be delivered through cable
in the major cities. It accordingly formed the Optus Vision
consortium with the Seven
network, Kerry Packer
and US cable operator Cablevision
in competition with the rival Foxtel consortium.
Provision of residential phone services over that network
- which reached 2.2 million homes - commenced in in 1996.
Mayne's strategic wanderings saw offloading of its stake
in Optus in favour of expansion into pharmaceuticals,
nursing homes and pathology services. It sold its remaining
stake in 1998, with the company being rebadged as Cable
& Wireless Optus to reflect the dominant shareholder
and subsequently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Moves in 1999 to acquire competitor AAPT
were rebuffed by regulators; the target was taken over
by Telecom New Zealand. That year
saw Optus launch its own ISP, Optus Internet.
In 2001 C&W sold its holdings for US$7 billion to
SingTel, the Telstra counterpart in Singapore that is
67% held by Temasek, the government's investment arm.
Singtel subsequently acquired the rest of Optus.
SingTel
As of 2005 SingTel has investments in 20 countries; operations
outside Singapore now account for 70% of SingTel's revenue
and two-thirds of its pretax earnings. SingTel's profit
for the year to March 2005 was around US$3.7 billion,
with sales of around US$12.62 billion. Optus contributed
38% of SingTel's pretax earnings.
Expansion overseas reflects the size and structure of
the home market, with 4.3 million residents, low domestic
revenue growth and falling international call revenue.
At the time of the C&W deal SingTel was flush with
cash from its time as a monopoly (ended 2000, the year
in which it was outbid by Richard Li's Pacific Century
CyberWorks for the Hong Kong arm of C&W). In 1993
it took a 37% stake in Philippine mobile operator Globe
Telecom (later increased to 44%).
It paid US$424 million in 1999 for 21.5% of Thai mobile
operator Advanced Info Service (controlled by the family
of Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra), acquired 31%
of Bharti Tele-Ventures in India in 2001 and 22.3% of
the Indonesian mobile operator Telekomunikasi Selular
Indonesia (Telkomsel) for US$602 million.
The Telkomsel stake increased to 35% in 2002, with SingTel
subsequently shedding noncore assets such as colour
pages publishing and 12% stake in dominant Belgian
telco Belgacom, divesting its postal
operations (SingPost) and taking a 45% stake in Pacific
Bangladesh Telecom. Its offshore mobile operations have
been grouped as Bridge Mobile Alliance.
Acquisition of Optus was controversial because of the
need to satisfy Australian regulators, politicians and
the US and Australian defence departments (in particular
because Optus satellites carry some intelligence traffic).
In August 2008 SingTel announced that its aggregate mobile
base had reached 198 million, up 45% from 136.25 million
a year earlier.SingTel had a presence in Australia, Bangladesh,
India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand. In India its 30.44%-owned Bharti had 69.38
million subscribers. Telkomsel of Indonesia (in which
it had a 35% stake) had 52.44 million subscribers. Operations
in Thailand with Advanced Info Services (21.35%) had 25.96
million customers, a 46% share of the Thai market. SingTel's
Philippines arm Globe Telecom (47.34%) had 22.74 subscribers,
with 15.49 million in Pakistani (Warid, 30%) and 1.7 million
through Bangladeshi operator PBTL (45%). Optus claimed
7.24 million customers.
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