Opticomm signs up Telstra as RSP

Michael Simmons (Uniti Group)

Telstra has signed a deal to become a retail service provider (RSP) for fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and wholesale service provider Opticomm. 

Telstra will now be able to offer retail services for residential and businesses in areas served by Opticomm's fibre access network, alongside Opticomm’s other RSPs 

Opticomm, which was recently acquired by Uniti Group, now has 50 RSPs and can serve 600,000 premises. 

The deal with Telstra follows the Uniti acquisition of the Telstra Velocity and South Brisbane Exchange fibre networks and assets, known as Velocity Network, in December 2020. 

That deal gave the publicly-listed telecommunications services provider access to 50,000 Telstra fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) services to its network.

“Opticomm now has more than 50 RSPs offering residential and business plans, providing commercial competition and greater choice for end customers over our high-speed fibre networks," said Michael Simmons, Uniti Group managing director and CEO. 

"As we continue to evolve our Opticomm wholesale offerings and invest in providing a superfast and reliable fibre access network, working with a broad range of RSPs remains critical to bringing value and choice to end customers. 

"Opticomm can now service approximately 600,000 premises, specialising in FTTP connectivity to communities throughout Australia. We remain committed to building, owning and managing high speed fibre access networks for wholesale sale to an ever-increasing list of RSPs.” 

Sanjay Nayak, executive for Telstra’s Fixed Connectivity products, said the deal would allow Telstra to "improve experiences for customers" on the Velocity Network as they transition to the Opticomm fibre network. 

"We also look forward to increasing our broadband product coverage by supplying services utilising Opticomm’s fibre network across other existing and new locations in the future," he added. 

Uniti Group completed its acquisition of Opticomm at the end of 2020 following the approval of the proposal by the Federal Court.

The deal followed a bidding war with Aware Super, with Uniti putting down the winning bid of $5.20 cash for each share and 1.07 Uniti shares per Opticomm share.