Australian telco Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd has formed a joint venture with US internet-over-cable provider Excite@Home to deliver similar services in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The joint venture, At Home Network Australia, will market its services as Optus@Home. The CEO of Cable & Wireless Optus, Chris Anderson, said the new venture takes the company a step closer to its ambition of the delivery of multiple services – telephony, video and high-speed data via its broadband network.
The new offering will benefit from Excite@Home’s proprietary network caching and replication technology. In the US, Excite@Home provides internet access for about 500,000 home and business subscribers at up to 20 times the speed of the fastest
modem. Its involvement with the Optus network is expected to attract high-profile content providers, potentially giving C&W Optus a marketing advantage over incumbent carrier Telstra’s competing cable modem service. If you have the best portal, then people with the content want to be on it, an analyst said.
Sydney-based Cable & Wireless Optus is 51% owned by UK carrier Cable & Wireless Plc. It has been in operation since 1992 and currently offers fixed-line telephony for long-distance and local services, mobile telephony, business networking, internet and satellite services.
