Optus have announced that they have charged past the eight million mobile customer mark in the past quarter. Holy crap that’s a lot of people.
That number is an increase of 213,000 in the past quarter, which Optus claims is “underpinned by demand for Apple iPhone 3G, other smartphones, and ‘Timeless’ plans.” While the number includes wireless broadband customers as well as mobile phone plans, that’s still an absurdly high number, especially considering the negative press Optus got after the original iPhone launch.
Still, it just goes to show how much pulling power the iPhone actually has in this country…
[Optus]
Allister Roger
August 13, 2009 at 10:37 AM
that’s 8 million people that can’t get decent reception outwith the major cities.
Report PermalinkDan Halford
August 13, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Or particularly good reception within the major cities either, if my phone’s performance in Brisbane is anything to go by.
Report PermalinkAnd the 3G data performance is pisspoor by anyone’s standards.
StevoTheDevo
August 13, 2009 at 11:47 AM
I get great regional reception.. do you have a 900MHz 3G phone?
My GF lives 3 hours north of Adelaide and i get 3G all the way..
Never had many problems with 3G data speed either..
I used a data pack on my phone for 2 months while I waited for phone and internet connection.. Downloaded Windows Updates of 100′s of Mb at reasonable speed no worries..
Maybe SA is blessed!
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
August 13, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I don’t have a sh!tty iPhone though, maybe that’s your problem (no 900MHz 3G on the iPhone).
Report PermalinkKimble
August 13, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Actually it seems that this growth has come from Netbooks and wireless Internet subscribers not iphones. Although it did manage to catch the press and bloggers off guard.
More details on the Australian Phone Report: http://ausphonereport.com/2009/08/13/iphone-helps-optus-create-subscribers-out-of-thin-air/
In summary: all the networks experienced strong growth over the quarter but Optus did not just make 210,000 people out of thin air.
Report PermalinkErik Jaap
August 13, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Those numbers are distorted.
Optus report unique numbers on issue – they do not know how many customers they really have.
Included in the 8 million are multiple prepaids to the same customer, inactive prepaids and multiple numbers to single customers, and double counting customers with broadband, wireless broadband, home and mobiles.
At best the 8 million is the number of product sold – many of which will not be active.
Optus claim around 32% share in Australia. If you delete children 10 and under that equates to a maximum of around 6m – which is also optimistic given Optus’ lower share in land line, 50% coverage in broadband and significantly lower regional share.
Report PermalinkAllister Roger
August 13, 2009 at 4:05 PM
I ave telstra and despite my hatred for them and all things monopolistic, they are the best Australian network. My company has 3 states with Optus phones and they are dreadful, they are particularly poor in the ACT. We tested optus 3g cards for mobile broadband and compared to telstra, they are not even in the same ballpark. If reliability, speed and coverage is important to you there is only 1 choice but you will pay through the nose for it.
Report PermalinkBen
August 13, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Dude, go read the press release. That’s 8 million mobile subscribers. Fixed telephoney and Internet customers are not included in that figure. The increase is due to wireless subscribers and popular products like the iPhone and Timeless plans.
Report PermalinkErik Jaap
August 13, 2009 at 10:11 PM
It might say subscribers it is number of unique numbers on issue – not active or unique customers which is significantly less.
Report PermalinkTrogdor
August 14, 2009 at 11:34 AM
So why don’t they upgrade their network then? I’ve had so many SMS’ that have failed to send over the last 3 or four days it’s getting ridiculous.
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