“Optus will spend AU$1.1 billion on its mobile network in the next twelve months after recording strong growth in mobile subscribers over the past year,” Brett Winterford reports for iTNews Australia.
“Optus’ revenue growth was driven by more 3G subscribers and its unlimited national calls plans. It counted 2.58 million 3G customers and 486,000 mobile broadband customers. About 57 percent of subscribers to its iPhone plans were new customers,” Winterford reports.
“The carrier reported 17 percent growth in mobile revenues (to AU$1.27 billion) after signing 652,000 mobile customers (up 9.1 percent to 7.79 million). But mobile margins shrank 5 per cent and customer acquisition costs jumped from $153 a customer to $170, up 12 percent,” Winterford reports. ‘The launch of iPhone contributed to strong customer additions and recontracts but as subscriber acquisition costs were expensed upfront, the iPhone launch had a dilutive impact on margins,’ the carrier said.”
Winterford reports, “The data-hungry iPhone and cheap, wireless broadband plans prompted costly network upgrades. “
“In the last quarter of its financial year, Optus spent $128 million upgrading its 3G network,” Winterford reports. “In the next financial year, ‘capital expenditure is estimated to be approximately $1.1 billion, comprising mainly investments in mobile network to expand coverage, and to increase capacity and speed,’ the company said. By next March, it expected to have a mobile network for 97 percent of the Australian population.”
More in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yet another example of how Apple changed the world with iPhone. Without iPhone, there is no way Optus would be making such an investemnt in their mobile network. People want to – and actually can – use iPhone so much that it taxes, and even sometimes saturates, carriers’ networks worldwide. Of course, this is because Apple has no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. Apple is pushing the mobile networks forward. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. Here’s to the crazy ones, indeed.
Direct link to video via YouTube here.
