­Optus revealed it had spent $103 million over the past three months bolstering its 3G network. The No. 2 telco said it had seen rapid growth in its prepaid mobile subscriber base over the past six months. Of its 8.2 million mobile phone subscribers, 4.35 million are said to be on no-contract prepaid accounts.

It has added 805,000 mobile customers in 12 months, an 11 percent increase.
Its 8.2 million mobile customers include 223,000 new mobile and wireless broadband customers signed up in the quarter to September, including 145,000 post-paid customers. The number of 3G customers has increased by 11 per cent to 3.08 million.