Optus names new business wins

The business arm of telecommunications provider Optus ended the fourth quarter of 2006 on a high, notching wins with the federal Attorney-General's Department, Network Ten and Suncorp Metway.

The SingTel subsidiary revealed the deals today as part of its quarterly results briefing, but did not provide further details. The business division includes ICT services arm Alphawest and metro fibre specialist Uecomm.

Optus claimed the business division was seeing increased market share in the fixed voice area, despite overall declining market interest in traditional telephony services.

Customers were also continuing to demand next-generation products based on the Internet Protocol (for example, Voice over IP and IP virtual private networks). "Business data and IP revenue increased by 10 percent to AU$108 million, with the continuing demand for IP products in the business market driving growth," Optus said in a statement.

However, it was revenue from ICT and managed services (including Alphawest) that relatively grew the most in the business division, increasing 17 percent to AU$71 million that quarter.

Optus saw "flat" revenues from satellite-based services over the period.