Just over twenty years ago, if you wanted a phone service, you could get one.. from Telstra. And that was it. Today marks an anniversary of sorts in Australian telecommunications, as Optus is twenty years old today, at least in terms of when it started commercial operations.
It’s just struck me that there’s probably a decent number of Giz readers who wouldn’t even recall an Australian telecommunications market with a single entity in it, let alone a time when that entity was simply called “Telecom”. Boy, do I feel old right now — a bit older than Optus is, although that date is itself a bit murky too.
Birthdays are always tricky things, but Optus’ is particularly tricky to unravel. A carrier licence was awarded to the company back on the 19th of November 1991, while commercial operations began on the 31st of January 1992. However, there are no Optus customers that could have been with the company for twenty years; it wasn’t until mid-June in 1992 that the company actually started selling services. The Optus release notes that at that time:
The cheapest mobile phone on sale was a Motorola handset, which retailed for approximately $750, had a $65 connection fee and a monthly ‘line rental’ fee of around $30 per month.
When they put it like that, it sounds like not much has changed; connection fee aside it’d be pretty easy to spend that much on a smartphone right now, although what you could do with that original Motorola handset would seem a little primitive now. [Optus]
Marcel
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 3:17 PMWe got cake in the office, it was really nice.
Marcel
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 3:19 PMIt was a giant chocolate cake rich enough to rival Mitt Romney, my head is still spinning from the sugar. It has a massive print on it with “20 years of ‘yes’”.
I love cake days.
light487
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 3:19 PMAlso the flag fall charges and cost per minute were a lot higher back then too. My first mobile was with Optus.. Sony Ericcson phone.. a flip phone.. I still have it somewhere.. got it on a partner plan where you buy two phones and get it cheaper for both contracts..
Of note, to the best of my knowledge, it was around this time that “Telecom” went from Government Agency to privately owned.. and it was all downhill from there..
Christian
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 3:25 PMAnd still their mobile service and coverage is shit as all hell…
Just wait till you need to call them and have that discount applied you were given upon signing up…..1-2 hours of your life you never get back, fighting for something which should have been automatic and then told it would take 1-2 months to come into effect…….ummmm no another 15 mins or so to get a straight answer from someone who has the authority to do what they say they will do……
Happy Birthday Optus, but my contract ends in July, Enjoy the next 20 without me…
christian
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:59 PMoh yeah and i have been with you for 15 of the 20 years all with mobile phones…
Blake
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 3:38 PMI would’ve just turned 5 then.
I remember the name Telecom, but certainly can’t remember a time before Optus.
Rhys
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 4:13 PMI remember Telecom well, and still see the old Telecom sign places around Sydney, usually on buildings that are about to be torn down.
Dean
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 4:51 PMHa, Telecom only started in 1975. You’re not really old unless you can remember the days of the PMG.
Sicarius123
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 5:20 PMHappy Birthday Optus.
I was a miserable customer on your rubbish network with poor call quality, reception, and dropouts.
Now I’m a happy Telstra customer who might get a slightly lower plan for the same price, but when I have a phone to make calls it’s totally worth it for the awesoms reception, call quality and no drop outs (unless I’m on the phone to an Optus customer).
Matt P
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 6:24 PMHappy BIrthday Optus!
I tried Optus… gave up.
BigPond have even won me over from Internode lately. Loving the 100mbit Cable!
However for the author, Telstra was named Telecom Australia, not simply Telecom (TELecom auSTRAlia, that’s how you get Telstra out of it)
smurfydog
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:12 PMDoes anyone else remember the mysterious advertising what went on long before Optus launched services? Huge billboards that simply said:
Optus
“yes”
Nobody I knew had any idea what Optus was or what they were trying to sell.
Then once it was announced that Optus was to be a rival phone company, and that they were foreign owned, there was a huge backlash, with an anti-Optus campaign that ran billboards and bumper stickers that read:
OptU$
“No”
Hooroo
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 9:36 PMI remember in the early days, Optus employees were empowered, yes empowered to make decisions, now they are nothing more than parrots reading back a script or what you’ve just tried to spell out for them.. Goodbye Optus in December when my contracts finish.
Virt Atomican
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:41 PMEven though many don’t know it, today’s happy Telsta customers owe a lot to Optus.
Competition from Optus made Telstra start focusing on customers, drop their previously outrageous prices, address their customer service attitudes, and even start to build to invest in new technologoes.
It’s sad to see what Optus has become since Singtel bought it. But for its first 5 years at least, Optus were the Rebels halting the Empire’s crshing dominion.
Virt Atomican
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:46 PMFor the article’s author… the Australian incumbent phone company was PMG (Post Master General) until the 70s. Then they were partly privatised and became Telecom Australia. Then when Optus set up they rebranded themselves as Telstra.