“Australia’s second biggest telco Optus today claimed to have captured the bulk of new sales for Apple’s 3G iPhone by offering better value deals than its competitors,” Australian Associated Press reports.

“”We’re very happy with the result for Optus – we think we’ve captured by far the lion’s share of the iPhone sales because we do have the best pricing models,” Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai said in an interview,” AAP reports.

“Optus is offering the iPhone at no upfront cost on a $79 cap plan for 24 months, or for a monthly fee on cheaper plans,” AAP reports. “By contrast, Vodafone is charging customers an upfront fee for the handset, while Telstra’s call and data limits will be much lower than its rivals.”

Full article here.

I a related story, Joseph Hanlon reports for ZDNet.com.au, “A number of Australians posting on online forums have claimed to be able to use their unlocked iPhone handsets on mobile carrier Hutchison’s network.”

“Hutchison itself has not yet confirmed whether the handsets will work on its “3″ network. The telco is the only major Australian mobile carrier not to offer Apple’s new handset, which launched last week locally,” Hanlon reports.

“Members of online forum MacTalk.com.au claim to have completed the leg work and have posted details of the process, as well as screenshots showing the iPhone with 3 reception and access to 3′s mobile Web portal,” Hanlon reports.

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Judge Bork" for the heads up.]