Optus and Vodafone have announced an expansion of its mobile network joint venture agreement that will see both sides access additional sites, with Optus claiming wider coverage to nearly 1,000 more towers across Australia.
The new deal will see more 3G, and now 4G coverage, throughout the major capital cities on the mainland, in addition to Geelong, the Central Coast and Gold Coast; and will also see Optus becoming the ‘exclusive’ roaming partner in regional cities – replacing Telstra in many areas, after its deal ended. Also included as reasons of its extension were “cost efficiencies” – which, for Optus, could be a pretty significant reason why the telco is shedding 750 jobs.
“Optus is committed to delivering what matters most to our customers – a network that strives to provide better services every day,” the Chief Executive Officer of SingTel’s Consumer Australia division – which is essentially Optus – said in a statement.
“We will bring quicker data speeds, better call quality and improved performance in more places to ensure Optus customers stay closer to family and friends though the latest mobile services,” he added.
We’ll see – and hopefully, this means that they don’t continue pushing that femtocell device.
The agreement is subject to approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.