| Type | Private (subsidiary of Primus Telecom) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1 July 1997 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Key people | Tom Mazerski, CEO succeeded Ravi Bhatia |
| Products | Local/Long Distance Telephony, Broadband, Mobile Phones, VoIP |
| Net income | $15.7 Mil USD (2007) [1] |
| Employees | 700 approx (2008) |
| Website | www.primus.com.au |
Primus Telecommunications (Australia) Pty Ltd is an Australian telecommunications provider.
As a full service carrier, Primus operates its own fibre network in the five major capital cities, delivering a range of business direct-connect services including ISDN, frame relay, ATM, telephone line, broadband x-DSL and mobile, as well as telephone line, broadband x-DSL and mobile services direct to residential customers.
The Australian business is a subsidiary of Primus Telecom, a publicly listed company traded over the counter OTCBB under the ticker PMUG and headquartered in Mclean, Virginia in the United States of America.
Primus Australia's head office is in Melbourne with offices in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.
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Primus originally entered the Australian telecommunications market in 1996 by acquiring Australia's fourth largest telecommunications service provider, Axicorp[1]. Primus Telecom was one of the first carriers to be granted a telecommunications license in 1997.[2]. Prior to this Australia's telecommunications industry was operated as a duopoly between the former Australian Government owned Telecom Australia, later re-branded Telstra and Optus, before the market was opened to full competition in July 1997[3].
1998 saw Primus expand their operations further in Australia with the acquisition of Eclipse Telecommunications Pty. Ltd.[4] and Hotkey Internet Services Pty Limited[5].
In 1999 Primus' parent company Primus Telecommunications Inc. purchased the retail operations of Telegroup Inc., a long-distance telephone company based in Fairfield, Iowa who was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy[6][7]. This acquisition included the Australian subsidiary of Telegroup which allowed Primus to improve their capabilities in the Australian market[8].
1999 was also the year Primus Australia's U.S parent company launched the iPrimus brand to spearhead the organisations:
...strategy of aggressively gaining retail market share by offering 'one- stop' shopping for bundled voice, data, Internet and cellular services...[9]
During the period from 2000 - 2003 Primus achieved some significant growth. They were one of many telco providers to benefit from the collapse of One.Tel by actively pursuing those customers left in a lurch[10]. They used this inertia to grow their customer base to approximately 750,000 retail customers including over 400,000 Internet customers by 2003[11].
In February 2004, AOL|7 was purchased by Primus Telecom. This acquisition added approximately 90,000 customers to Primus' existing residential iPrimus customer base[12].
Primus' acquisition would coincide with much industry consolidation as competitor Telstra purchased a 50% stake in mobile provider Hutchison 3G for A$450 million, Kaz Group for A$333 million and Damovo for A$64 million. Meanwhile competitor Optus purchased Uecomm for A$227 million, a 50.8% stake in Alphawest and A$50 million for remaining 74% of Virgin Mobile Australia .
In early 2007 Primus sold PlanetDomain to NetRegistry for over A$8 million [13].
In late 2008, Primus acquired Imagineering Data Centre, a Melbourne based hosting and colocation provider. [14]
Primus Australia operates under two operational brands—iPrimus the residential division and Primus Telecom the business division.
Primus competes for Australian domestic fixed-line and mobile calls and internal call business, along with other companies including Optus, Vodafone, Telstra and other established retailers and resellers.
Globally, Primus is one of the world's fifth largest carriers of international voice traffic.[15]
Other add-on services include; Broadband Top-Ups, Green Broadband (see below), Anti-Virus & Anti-Spam filtering, iSpeed Dial-up Internet acceleration, WebFilter proxy, Global Roaming, Wireless Hotspot access and Web SMS.
Primus is a participant in the controversial Internet censorship trials[16].
Primus Telecom Australia's 'Green Broadband' program allows broadband customers to minimize the greenhouse impact of their internet usage. For every Green Broadband customer, Primus plants an average of 5 native trees every year through their exclusive partner Landcare Australia – one of Australia’s most trusted and respected environmental organisations.
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