Optus

Company: Singapore Telecommunications Limited

Brand value: US$3,058 million

Change since 2018: -13%

Headquarter city: Sydney

Category: Telecom Providers

Year formed: 1981

Optus is the second-largest telecom provider in Australia. It offers fixed telephony, cable TV, broadband, wireless internet, satellite, and 4G mobile services; it has around one-third of the mobile market. The telecom sector is highly competitive, and Optus shed 440 workers in 2018 as it sought to become more efficient. Optus has the streaming rights to Cricket Australia matches, the Olympic Games and English Premier League football, and caused surprise in early 2019 by making a late bid for rights to World Cup Rugby – surprise because of significant interruptions to its feed of the 2018 football World Cup, which resulted in a very public apology for the “balls-up”. Optus has this year been fined AU$10 million and ordered to refund around 240,000 customers who unknowingly purchased or subscribed to paid-for content. Recent Optus marketing has focused on the message that customers don’t have to choose between value and coverage. The message: “Both is better”.