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Legazpi, Albay

Legazpi (IPA: ), officially the City of Legazpi (Syudad nin Legazpi; Lungsod ng Legazpi), is a 1st class component city and capital of the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 209,533. Legazpi is the regional center and largest city of the Bicol Region, in terms of population. It is the region's center of tourism, education, health services, commerce and transportation in the Bicol Region.

The city is composed of two districts, Legazpi Port and the Old Albay District. Mayon Volcano, one of the Philippines' most popular icons and tourist destinations, is partly within the city's borders.

In 2018, Legazpi was ranked first in overall competitiveness among component cities by the National Competitiveness Council. The city also ranked first in infrastructure and second in economic dynamism. In the same year, Legazpi was also named "most business-friendly city" in the component city category by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Etymology
The city of Legazpi was named after Miguel López de Legazpi, the Basque Spanish conquistador who officially annexed the Philippine Islands to the Spanish Empire in 1565, and whose surname came from a town in Gipuzkoa, Spain.

Pre-Hispanic
The area that is now Albay had a thriving civilization before the Spanish arrived. The Spanish explorers found densely populated settlements with an abundance of gold and provisions in the southern Bicol peninsula. Ancient inhabitants practiced rice cultivation, made fine gold jewelry and possessed silk, suggesting trade with China. American anthropologist Henry Otley Beyer found jars, stone tools and shells from 100 to 500 BC in Sorsogon and Albay. Meanwhile, ancient burial jars and pottery were also found in Hoyop-Hoyopan Cave in Camalig. Other evidences of pre-Hispanic civilization include the Mataas shell scoop, which dates back to the Late Neolithic Period, found in Cagraray Island. The Mataas shell scoop was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines.

Foundation
Legazpi was originally a fishing settlement called Sawangan that occupied the mangrove swamps that is now the Legazpi Port, inhabited by fisher folk and farmers. In 1569, a Spanish expedition dispatched by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi led by Luis Enriquez de Guzman and Augustinian friar Alonso Jimenez first set foot in Albay. They arrived on the coastal settlement called Ibalon in present-day Magallanes, Sorsogon after exploring the islands of Masbate, Ticao and Burias and proceeded inland as far as present-day Camalig, Albay.

In July 1573, the conquistador Juan de Salcedo, grandson of Governor-General Legazpi, led another expedition from the north. They founded Villa Santiago de Libon (present-day Libon, Albay) and reached the settlement of Albaybay, whose name was subsequently shortened to 'Albay' or Pueblo de Albay. In 1616, Pueblo de Albay served as the capital of Partido de Ibalon, which included present-day Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, parts of Camarines Sur and the islands of Catanduanes, Ticao and Burias.

Spanish colonial era
Spanish religious missionaries governed the settlement in the 1580s. In 1587, Franciscan friars of the Doctrina de Cagsawa began to convert the area's population to Christianity. The village of Sawangan became more populous and progressive and the first parish priest, Fray Francisco de Santa Ana, OFM, built a wooden chapel with St. Gregory the Great as patron. Sawangan then became an independent parish and was called Misión de San Gregorio Magno de Sawangan.

A bigger and more imposing church replaced the chapel during the tenure of Fray Martin del Espiritu OFM in 1636 and Sawangan continued to thrive despite the Moro raids in the 1700s, a super typhoon in 1742, an earthquake in 1811, and other calamities. Sawangan was created a visita regular in 1605 and elevated as an independent town in 1616.

1814 Eruption of Mt. Mayon
On February 1, 1814, a catastrophic eruption of Mt. Mayon partially destroyed Sawangan and buried Cagsawa, Budiao and Camalig. The parish priest of Sawangan, Fray Pedro Licup, urged the residents to transfer to Makalaya (present-day Barangay Taysan) located on the slopes of Mt. Bariw. However, many residents decided to return to the lowlands and settled in Taytay (present-day Barangay Bagumbayan).

Other survivors opted to return to the original location of Sawangan and established Binanuahan (Banuang Gurang) despite a decree by the Gobierno Superior signed on October 1, 1829, which prohibited the establishment of new towns. The new settlement in Taytay grew larger and eventually became a township. Binanuahan was declared a visita or tributary of Taytay and the combined town became known as Albay Nuevo.

In 1839, the settlers in Taytay started to erect a stone church designed by Gobernadorcillo Don Jose Ma. de Peñaranda, an architect, in consultation with Fray Jose Yagres, OFM. The structure would become the present Cathedral of San Gregorio Magno in the Old Albay District. Meanwhile, those who returned to Sawangan established an ermita or chapel dedicated to the Archangel Raphael, whom they adopted as patron saint. This became the present church of St. Raphael the Archangel in the Legazpi Port district.

On July 17, 1856, Governor General Ramon Montero signed a decree creating the township of Pueblo Viejo, out of Binanuahan and the adjacent villages of Lamba, Rawis and Bigaa. In another decree, Montero named the town Legazpi, which was formally established on October 22 of the same year, in honor of no less than Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Governor General, who landed in the town's territories years before.

Port of Legazpi opened to world trade
The port of Legazpi served as anchorage for ships sailing to Nueva España (Mexico) beginning in the latter part of the 16th century. The nearby Sula Channel was used as a sanctuary by galleons during storms because of its sheltered inlet. In 1873, Legazpi was made a port of entry by a Royal Decree earlier issued in Madrid on May 18, 1872, and later promulgated by Governor-General Juan Alaminos y Vivar on December 3, 1874.

Legazpi was declared a city for the first time under the Becerra Law of 1892. In 1894, the Spanish Minister of the Ultramar promulgated a decree creating the combined city government (ayunamiento) of Legazpi, a merger of the towns of Albay (now Old Albay District) and Daraga with the territories of the former.

Philippine revolution
On September 22, 1898, the Civil Governor of Albay, Angel Bascaran y Federic and the Spanish residents evacuated Albay. Subsequently, a revolutionary junta was organized by Don Anacieto Solano who later turned over the command to General Vicente Lukban, General-in-chief of Operations of the revolutionary government in the southern region.

American colonial era
On January 23, 1900, American forces composed of three infantry companies equipped with powerful rifles and cannon landed on the shores of Albay Gulf to conquer Legazpi. They were met by 800 revolutionary Filipino troops headed by General Jose Ignacio Paua, Col. Antero Reyes, Captain Alvaro Nepomuceno, and Policarpio Pergone who put up a strong defense of the city.

The American troops, headed by Brig. Gen. W.A. Kobbe, encountered heavy resistance from the Filipino forces who gallantly engaged them in a bloody fight on San Rafael Bridge that resulted in the death of 172 Filipinos including Reyes, who used only bolos. Another 12 Filipinos were injured while the American forces suffered only 12 injured infantrymen. To commemorate the valiant efforts of the revolutionary troops, a monument was built on the site of the former San Rafael Bridge. The swampy area where the bridge was located was reclaimed during the early 20th century and is now the intersection of Rizal Street and Quezon Avenue.

Following their occupation of the city in 1900, the American occupiers cancelled Legazpi's city status. In 1908, after the war's conclusion, the Americans split Legazpi into two separate towns, Legazpi and Albay (now Old Albay District), which became the provincial capital of Albay. In 1922, the town of Daraga was further split from the then municipality of Albay.

World War II
On December 12, 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Legazpi was occupied by forces of the Imperial Japanese Army, the purpose of which was to obtain control of local airstrips which could be used as forward bases by fighter aircraft for operations in central Luzon. Throughout the Japanese occupation, resistance by Bicolano and local troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army continued in the hills and mountains south of Legazpi. In January 1945, American and Filipino liberation forces, supported by Bicolano guerrillas, liberated Legazpi. However, the city suffered extensive aerial bombardment from US aircraft and many old buildings were destroyed including the old St. Raphael church and the Academia de Santa Ines campus.

Independent Philippines
Legazpi became a city for the second time on July 18, 1948, when Daraga and Legazpi were combined to constitute its territory under Republic Act No. 306; at that time, President Elpidio Quirino appointed Jose R. Arboleda as the first City Mayor. But on June 8, 1954, Republic Act No. 993 was approved, recreating the two towns (Daraga and Legazpi) and the city was dissolved.

Cityhood
Finally, on June 12, 1959, Legazpi became a city for the third time under Republic Act no. 2234. Amendments were introduced under R.A. 5525. Presidential Decree 125 issued on February 23, 1973, declared the town of Daraga as part of the territorial jurisdiction of the city. This decree, however, was not implemented with the onset of the Integrated Reorganization Plan, which involved the restructuring of local governments.

On September 24, 1972, then President Ferdinand Marcos designated Legazpi as the administrative center of Bicol Region through the Integrated Reorganization Plan of 1972, the implementing framework of Presidential Decree No. 1.

Pope John Paul II visited Legazpi on February 21, 1981, during his first apostolic journey to the Philippines. Aside from Manila where the beatification of St. Lorenzo Ruiz was held, the Pope also visited Baguio, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bataan, Cebu, and Davao. The Pope held a mass dedicated to farmers at the St. Gregory the Great Cathedral.

Geography
Legazpi is on the eastern portion of the province of Albay bounded on the north by the municipality of Santo Domingo, on the east by Albay Gulf, on the west by the municipality of Daraga, and on the south by the municipalities of Manito, Albay and Pilar and Castilla, Sorsogon. The city is located 527 km south of Manila.

From north to south, the city spans approximately 29 kilometers; from east to west, the narrowest portion is about 3 kilometers (urban district) while the widest is about 15 kilometers (southeast area). Legazpi has a total land area of 20,437 hectares, 90 percent of which is classified as rural (18,431.66 hectares) while 10 percent is classified as urban (2,005.39 hectares).

Legazpi's topography is generally plain on the northeastern areas, with slopes ranging from five to fifteen degrees. The southern areas have mostly rolling to hilly terrain. In the city's coastal areas, the terrain varies from plain (north) to hilly (south). Legazpi is criss-crossed by several rivers including the Tibu, Macabalo and Yawa rivers with a number of swampy areas, particularly in the urban district. To mitigate flooding in these low-lying areas, the local government has built an urban drainage and flood control system consisting of dikes, canals, sea walls and three pumping stations located in Barangays San Roque, Bay-Bay and Victory Village.

Barangays
Legazpi is politically subdivided into 70 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.

Currently, there are 45 urban barangays and 25 rural barangays.

Climate
Legazpi City features a tropical rainforest climate with copious amount of rainfall throughout the year. Legazpi has noticeably wetter and drier periods of the year. However, the city's driest month, April, still sees on average of over 150 mm of precipitation per month. Similar to many other cities with this climate, temperatures are relatively constant throughout the course of the year, with a mean annual average of 26.9 C. The coolest month is January with a daily mean of 25.3 C and the hottest months are jointly May and June with a daily mean of 28.1 C. The all-time record high temperature was 37.7 C on May 27, 1968, and the all-time record low temperature was 13.9 C on February 28, 1971.

Disaster risk reduction
Because of its geographical location on the eastern coast of the Philippines and the close proximity of Mayon Volcano, Legazpi is vulnerable to typhoons, sea level rise and volcanic eruptions. To mitigate the effects of climate change and improve the city's resilience against disasters, the city government has adopted a disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategy. The City Government of Legazpi was recognized by the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) as a model locality in implementing risk reduction management practices in the Philippines.

On the provincial level, Albay has institutionalized disaster preparedness and disaster response by creating the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) in 1995. The APSEMO is tasked to design and implement a disaster risk management and reduction program. Its main objective is to develop more pro-active and disaster resilient communities. Specific disaster preparedness strategies in Albay and Legazpi include preemptive evacuation, 'zero casualty' policy, re-planning of the city's land use, mangrove reforestation, and the establishment of the Climate Change Academy as a training center for disaster risk management, evaluation of climate risk hazards and adaptive capabilities, planning, and programming. On March 12, 2018, Mayor Noel E. Rosal announced his administration's proposed plan to construct a permanent 1000-room evacuation center in Barangay Homapon for citizens living within the "eight-kilometer extended danger zone" near the volcano Mayon.

Demographics
According to the 2020 census, the population of Legazpi is 209,533 people, with a density of undefined PD/km2.

Legazpi had an average annual population growth of 1.86% between 2000 and 2007 according to the 2010 census. About 58 percent of the city's population or 105,853 live in areas classified as urban while 42 percent or 76,348 live in rural areas. The city has a population density of 9 people per hectare (54 people per hectare in urban areas and 4 people per hectare in rural areas). Daytime population in Legazpi is estimated to reach 350,000 due to the daily influx of students, workers, businessmen and tourists.

Legazpi is the most populous city in the province of Albay and in the Bicol Region. It comprises 14.8% of the total population of Albay. The main language spoken is Central Bikol. In addition, English and Filipino/Tagalog are also widely used and spoken.

Religion
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in the city. Other religious denominations include Iglesia ni Cristo, Members Church of God International, Orthodoxy, Protestant churches such as Baptist, Methodist, Evangelical Christians, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Islam. The city is the ecclesiastical seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Legazpi.

Economy
Legazpi is a major economic hub in the Bicol Region. Economic activities in the city include agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, services, manufacturing and mining. Major sources of income include rice, root crops, and coconut. The city exports coconut oil, copra cake, perlite, and abaca products. The city also has a fast-growing tourism industry with focus on adventure tourism. The city government is promoting Legazpi as an ideal location for ICT-BPO businesses. In 2014, Legazpi's locally generated income reached Php338.2 million, with total income (including IRA) at Php711.1 million. In the same year, Legazpi ranked first among cities in Bicol in terms of tax collection efficiency. Legazpi City was recognized as the most business-friendly city in Southern Luzon in 2007 by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2014, the city was ranked second among the top three livable cities in the Philippines in the Livable Cities Design Challenge organized by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. The Department of Agriculture-Bicol's data notes that 90% of Philippines' pili plantation-production comes from the Bicol Region. In 1936, Don Antonio Regidor, who was born in Spain on November 24, 1891 pioneered Bicol Region’s pilinut industry. He founded Central Pilinut Candy at Old Albay District, Barangay Pinaric, Legazpi City, Albay. In 2023, "Albay Pilinut Candy" is managed by his grandchild Audrey Rose Battung-Deocareza.

Trade and industry
There were 5,055 business establishments in Legazpi. Most of these are located in the city's central business district, the Legazpi Port District. Landco Business Park, the first master-planned commercial business district in the Bicol Region, opened in 2001. Thriving industries in Legazpi include coconut oil milling and production (Legaspi Oil Company – CIIF), construction aggregate quarrying,  'pinukpok' (abaca fabric) production in Barangay Banquerohan, and organic fertilizer manufacturing.

To further boost the local economy, the city government is promoting the establishment of information technology (IT) parks and industrial estates such as the Embarcadero IT Park in Barangay Victory Village, City Light Industrial Park (CLIP) in Barangay Bogtong, Legazpi City Special Economic Zone in Barangay Banquerohan, Bicol Regional Agro-Industrial Center (BRAIC) and First Legazpi Industrial Estate, both in Barangay Homapon.

The city is also home to a number of retail establishments. Liberty Commercial Center, Inc. (LCC), a homegrown Albayano company established in nearby Tabaco City in 1945, operates a major mall (LCC Mall Legazpi), three supermarkets and five Expressmarts (grocery stores) in the city. Another notable mall is Pacific Mall Legazpi, the first full-sized mall in Bicol. Other malls in Legazpi include Embarcadero de Legazpi, A. Bichara Silverscreens and Entertainment Center, 101 Shopping Mall, Yashano Mall and Gregorian Mall. The city has also attracted investments from national retail chains including Metro Gaisano, SM Savemore, Robinsons Supermarket, Puregold, Ministop and 7-Eleven. Ayala Malls  recently opened its Ayala Malls Legazpi – Liberty City Center. Meanwhile, SM City Legazpi, the second and largest SM Supermall in Bicol and the 71st in the Philippines, is located beside the Legazpi City Bus Terminal and opened on September 14, 2018.

The city has two public markets: Legazpi City Public Market, a recipient of the 'Huwarang Palengke Award' in 2006, and Old Albay Public Market. The Ibalong Pasalubong Center has shops selling souvenirs and local handicrafts.

Banking and finance
As of December 2017, Legazpi had a total of 47 banks, with volume of bank deposits at Php35.4 billion. Legazpi Savings Bank, a thrift bank based in the city with eleven branches around the Bicol Region, was acquired by Robinsons Bank in 2012. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also has a branch in the city, along Rizal Street in Barangay Cabangan.

Business process outsourcing
Legazpi is recognized as one of the 'next wave cities' for business process outsourcing (BPO). The next wave cities are a list of ICT hubs beyond Metro Manila identified by the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology, based on a set of criteria such as worker supply, telecom infrastructure and other factors needed to sustain the BPO industry. Legazpi is aiming to attract more BPO firms to put up offices in the city. , BPO companies in Legazpi include One Half Philippines.

The city currently has one IT park, the Embarcadero IT Park, which offers about 8,000 call center seats that could provide jobs to some 24,000 agents in three shifts. Pioneering the business in the city is the Incubation Center of Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation Inc. (SLTCFI), which is an extension of Embarcadero's P1.8-billion IT Park, the very first IT ecozone in the Bicol region inaugurated in July 2009. , the biggest locator in Embarcadero IT Park is Sutherland Global Services.

Housing
There are 141 residential subdivisions and housing sites (132 privately owned, 9 government owned) in Legazpi. National and local real estate developers have also invested in the city. These include Vista Land (Camella Legazpi), Deca Homes, and Sunwestville Realty and Development Corp. (Eco Homes Bayshores Condominium). In 2015, Taft Property Ventures Development Corp., the real estate arm of Gaisano Group, announced that it is building a condominium in Legazpi.

Tourism
Located on the southern foothills of the scenic Mount Mayon, the city has a flourishing tourism industry. The province of Albay, whose center of trade and commerce is in the city, recorded a 66 percent growth rate in tourist arrivals for 2013. In the same year, the city had a total of 263,568 foreign tourist arrivals, the most in the region. In 2014, the city welcomed 666,210 tourists, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year. including Chinese tourists who arrived at the city via direct chartered flights from Xiamen, China. In 2015, Legazpi aims to reach its target of 900,000 tourist arrivals. Legazpi increased its tourist arrivals by 13.97% in 2017.

Legazpi has the tourism tagline the "City of Fun and Adventure", with a number of adventure tourism activities within the city including riding an ATV around Mt. Mayon, zip-lining, skydiving, scuba diving, and water sports. In an ATV adventure to Mt. Mayon, tourists drive an all-terrain vehicle over rough trails, including a dry riverbed, leading to the volcano's lower slopes where hardened lava rock from previous eruptions are deposited. The activity was featured in reality shows The Amazing Race Asia 4 in 2010 and The Amazing Race Philippines 1 in 2012. American actor Zac Efron visited Legazpi in October 2012 and drove an ATV around Mayon.

Hiking and climbing Mt. Mayon is allowed during peaceful spells but was prohibited following a phreatic explosion with casualties in May 2013. As part of its efforts to promote sports and adventure tourism, the city hosts annual sporting events such as Mt. Mayon Triathlon, Mayon 360 Ultramarathon and XTERRA Triathlon. The city also serves as a jump-off point to other adventure activities nearby including river rafting and waterfalls exploration in Malinao, spelunking in Camalig, island hopping in Bacacay,  skimboarding in Santo Domingo, and whale shark interaction in Donsol, Sorsogon. The city is home to 56 hotels and 110 bars and restaurants. , Legazpi had a total of 1,547 hotel rooms. Among the notable hotels in the city is The Oriental Legazpi. Located in the hills of Taysan, it offers a panoramic view of the city, Albay Gulf and Mt. Mayon. It served as the venue of the joint conference meetings of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) from May 14 to 20, 2014 as well as the PATA New Tourism Frontiers Forum 2015. Legazpi is also aiming to be one of the top five convention destinations in Luzon by 2020. The city has two public indoor arenas that can also serve as convention centers: Ibalong Centrum for Recreation (capacity: 7,000 persons) and Albay Astrodome (capacity: 5,000 persons) The Albay Astrodome was used as the venue for the Big Night of Pinoy Big Brother: 737 on November 7–8, 2015. The city government is also planning to build the Legazpi City Convention Center. There are also several privately owned and hotel-based convention facilities such as the Casablanca Convention Hall (capacity: 1,000 persons), The Oriental Grand Ballroom (capacity: 750 persons), and Top of St. Ellis (capacity: 300 persons). In 2015, Legazpi hosted 51 national and international conventions. Legazpi was a port of call for German cruise ship Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' MS Bremen in October 2018.

Foreign trade
With a total trade value of US$129,423,764, the port of Legazpi is the leading port for exports in the entire Bicol Region for 2013. Among the 17 port districts in the country, Legazpi is one of only five port districts that posted positive collection goals for January to April 2015.

Government
Legazpi is governed by a mayor, vice mayor, and ten councilors. Each city official is elected to serve for a three-year term. The representative of the Liga ng mga Barangay and the Sangguniang Kabataan also participates in the city council. The current city mayor of Legazpi is Carmen G. Rosal.

List of chief executives

 * Luis Los Baños
 * Gregorio Imperial
 * Benjamin Imperial (1988–1991)
 * Imelda Roces (1992–2001)
 * Noel E. Rosal (2001–2010; 2013–2022)
 * Carmen Geraldine B. Rosal (2010–2013; 2022–present)

Festivals
The Ibalong Festival is a non-religious festival held annually each August. The festival celebrates the epic-fragment Ibalon, which narrates the exploits of three legendary heroes of Ibalon or Ancient Bikol: Baltog, Handyong, and Bantong. It was first held in October 1992. Yearly activities include the Ibalong Street Presentation, trade fairs, bazaars and weekend markets, Mutya ng Ibalong Pageant, and sports-related events such as the annual Mt. Mayon Triathlon.

The Magayon Festival is a month-long annual festival celebrating Mt. Mayon. It is held in May in the entire province of Albay with most of the activities held in Legazpi. The name comes from the Bikol word   'magayon' , which means beautiful, from which the name of Mt. Mayon is derived. The festival features agricultural products display and trade fairs, culinary shows, cultural events, street parades, photo/arts exhibits, and sports events.

During the Christmas season, the Karangahan Albay Green Christmas is held to emphasis on safe and environment-friendly celebration of the Yuletide season. First held in 2009, the festival runs from December 1 to 31.

Having different patron saints, the city's two districts have different fiestas. Legazpi port district fiesta is held every October 24 in honor of St. Raphael the Archangel. Yearly activities include street parade and a maritime procession. The Albay district fiesta is held every September 3, in honor of St. Gregory the Great; it is usually declared a local non-working holiday. There are several local festivals held in the city's barangays including Santo Cristo Festival in Barangay Dap-Dap, Bankero Festival in Barangay San Roque, Biga Festival in Barangay Bigaa, Banua Festival in Barangay Binanuahan, Peñafrancia Festival in Barangay Sabang and Hikot Festival in Barangay Victory Village.

Sports
The Albay Vulcans are a Philippine rugby union and rugby league team based in Legazpi. They play in the Philippines National Rugby League Championship.

Transportation
Legazpi is considered as the gateway to Bicol because of its relative proximity to the provinces of the region due to its geographical location. With an airport, seaport, bus and rail terminals, the city is accessible to all modes of transportation.

Air
The city was formerly served by Legazpi Airport. It was the busiest domestic airport in mainland Southern Luzon and was ranked 15th busiest in the country in 2012, with total passenger traffic of 578,762. The Legazpi Airport has a runway length of 2280 m and is capable of handling international aircraft. , Cebu Pacific flies three times daily between Manila and Legazpi four times weekly between Cebu and Legazpi. Philippine Airlines has two daily flights between Manila and Legazpi. Cebgo (formerly Tigerair Philippines), a subsidiary of Cebu Pacific, has one daily flight between Manila and Legazpi.

In 2015, the Legazpi Airport was renovated to expand and improve the passenger terminal, add separate arrival and pre-departure areas for domestic and international chartered flights, and provide office space for the Bureau of Immigration, customs and animal quarantine, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. In October 2021, Legazpi Airport was replaced by the Bicol International Airport (IATA: DRP, ICAO: RPLK), in Barangay Alobo, Daraga, 15 km away from the former airport.

Land
Legazpi is accessible by land transport. Modes of public transport within the city include jeepneys, tricycles, taxicabs and pedicabs. Several buses ply the route between Manila with stops in neighboring provinces. The city has an award-winning integrated bus and public utility vehicle terminal called Legazpi Grand Central Terminal, a public-private partnership project. Buses and public utility vehicles also have regular trips between Legazpi and neighboring cities.

In order to spur development in the city, The Toll Regulatory Board declared Toll Road 5 the extension of South Luzon Expressway. A 420-kilometer, four lane expressway starting from the terminal point of the now under construction SLEX Toll Road 4 at Barangay Mayao, Lucena City in Quezon to Matnog, Sorsogon, near the Matnog Ferry Terminal. On August 25, 2020, San Miguel Corporation announced that they will invest the project which will reduce travel time from Lucena to Matnog from 9 hours to 5.5 hours.

The city also has Legazpi Boulevard which connects the Bicol International Airport to the municipality of Daraga. The boulevard is known for its scenic view of Mayon volcano by both joggers and tourists. It is also one of the longest coastal roads outside the country's capital.

Rail
The city was also served by Legazpi station, the southernmost terminus of the Philippine National Railways (PNR). Plans are underway to revive rail transport between Manila and Legazpi. In the mid-2010s, the PNR has started commuter rail service between Legazpi and Naga City, although this was short lived. Legazpi station was also the terminus of Legazpi – Tabaco branch line and the Legazpi Division Line.

It was later proposed in 2021 by Joey Salceda for his reelection bid that the Legazpi–Daraga alignment of the PNR South Main Line shall be replaced by the Metro Legazpi Tramway project, a light rail and streetcar line that will connect downtown Legazpi to the new Daraga station of the PNR South Long Haul project. The line will have 8 stations over an unspecified track length.

Sea
The port of Legazpi is classified as a national sub-port of entry catering to domestic and foreign cargo vessels. Its modern-day port, which was built by the engineering firm Pedro Siochi and Company during the era of President Quezon, played a great role in the liberation of Manila in 1945. , regular passenger trips from the port are between Legazpi and the island municipality of Rapu-Rapu and coastal villages of Bacon District, Sorsogon City. The city government has proposed the construction of an international cruise ship terminal under public-private partnership. The proposed passenger cruise terminal has received approval from the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).

Waste management
The city government operates a 1.5 ha sanitary landfill in barangay Banquerohan. Opened in 2011 through a grant from the Spanish government's Agencia Espanola Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID), the sanitary landfill has two cells that will contain the city's non-recyclable waste. In 2010, Legazpi implemented a solid waste management program with emphasis on reduction of waste in the household and business establishment level; resource recovery, recycling, and reusing at the barangay level; collection, transfer, transport and management of residual waste at the city level. The city also aims to reduce plastic waste by implementing the 'plastic for rice program' wherein citizens can exchange five kilos of residual plastic waste for a kilo of rice. The city government recognizes barangays that practice outstanding solid waste management.

As a result of its waste management programs, the city was able to successfully reduce solid waste generated per capita per day from 0.5 kg in 2009 to 0.29 kg in 2015. Meanwhile, the city is planning to build a septage and waste water treatment facility to protect its water resources. A Japanese firm has also proposed an organic fertilizer manufacturing project.

Flood control
To prevent flooding in the city's main business center, the city government is building a flood control project that is envisioned to turn Legazpi into an 'all weather city'. Components of the project include three pumping stations located in barangays San Roque, Baybay and Victory Village, dikes and drainage systems along the Tibu and Macabalo Rivers, and a 2.7 kilometer coastal road in barangays Pigcale, Sabang, Baybay, San Roque and Rawis that will serve as protection from storm surges.

Education
Legazpi is a center of education in the Bicol Region. It is home to two universities (Bicol University and University of Santo Tomas–Legazpi) and a number of colleges and technical-vocational schools. , there are 63 daycare/pre-schools, 57 elementary schools and 27 secondary schools in the city.

Bicol University, established in 1969 as the premier regional state and research university and the first ISO 9001:2008 certified public university in Bicol, has its main campus in Legazpi near the boundary with neighboring Daraga town. The BU Main Campus hosts the College of Education (BUCE), College of Nursing (BUCN), College of Arts and Letters (BUCAL), College of Science (BUCS), Graduate School (BUGS), Institute of Physical Education, Sports and Recreation (IPESR), College of Medicine (BUCM), Bicol University College of Education Integrated Laboratory School-Elementary Department and Bicol University College of Education Integrated Laboratory School-High School Department (BUCEILS-HS). The Bicol University Research Extension Program Center (BUREPC), the Amphitheatre and the Little Theater are also found on this campus. For the school year 2015–16, BU has 27,226 enrollees.

University of Santo Tomas - Legazpi formerly Aquinas University of Legazpi is the first Catholic University in Bicol Region and Southern Luzon run by the Dominican Fathers/Order of Preachers. Founded by Don Buenaventura de Erquiaga as the Legazpi Junior Colleges in 1948, UST-Legazpi became a university in 1968 when the administration of the college was passed on to the Dominicans. University of Santo Tomas – Legazpi offers pre-elementary, elementary, high school (General Curriculum, Special Program in the Arts, and PAASCU Level III-candidate Science High School), Senior High School, and twenty–three (23) programs (in the College of Arts, Sciences and Education; College of Business Management and Accountancy; College of Health Sciences; and College of Engineering, Architecture, and Fine Arts), the newest of which are the BS Pharmacy, the first and only program in the Region, and BS Medical Technology, both supervised by UST-Manila. The Peñaranda Campus hosts the College of Business Management and Accountancy, College of Law (the Center of Excellence in Legal Education in Bicol), the Graduate School, and the Center for Continuing Education.

St. Agnes' Academy, established in 1912 by the Missionary Benedictine Sisters as "Academia de Sta. Ines", is the oldest Catholic school in Albay and the second Benedictine school to be established in the Philippines after St. Scholastica's College Manila.

Divine Word College of Legazpi is a Catholic college run by the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) Congregation. It started as Liceo de Albay, a diocesan parochial school for boys established in 1947 by Rev. Fr. Juan Carullo, a retired Army Chaplain. In 1960, the SVD led by Fr. Joseph L. Bates took over the administration of the school and renamed it Divine Word High School. It was elevated to tertiary level as Divine Word College of Legazpi (DWCL) in 1965.

Legazpi City Science High School, founded in 2004 as "Legazpi City High School" and became full-fledged science high school on January 15, 2016. Located in Bitano, Legazpi City, it provides education for junior and senior high school students. Its junior high school department offers SPSTE (Special Program in Science, Technology, and Engineering). Likewise, its senior high school offers two tracks with three strands. The academic track includes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), ABM (Accounting and Business Management), and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) under the TVL (Technical-vocational) strand.

Notable personalities

 * Ramon Obusan – National Artist of the Philippines for Dance.
 * Susan Enriquez – journalistic, host
 * Salvacion Lim-Higgins – National Artist of the Philippines for Fashion Design.
 * Mariano Goyena del Prado – historian, ethnologist, and poet
 * Everardo Napay – Iloilo-born zarzuela playwright, architect, sculptor, composer, and choreographer; worked in Legazpi for more than three decades
 * Teotimo C. Pacis – Bishop, Biblical translator, and poet
 * William 'Bogs' Adornado – three-time PBA Most Valuable Player (1975, 1976, and 1981), one of the PBA's 25 Greatest Players of All-Time
 * Merlinda Bobis – contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and academic
 * Irene Cortes – former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines; first female Dean of the UP College of Law
 * Janelle Quintana – actress; 19th Aliw Awards Best New Female Artist nominee
 * Valerie Weigmann – TV host, actress; Miss World Philippines 2014
 * Athena Imperial - news field reporter, communication researcher and Miss Philippines Earth 2011.
 * Vincent Aycocho - a Filipino actor, comedian, singer and TV show host. He is known for as a Filipino comedian in Comedy Bar.
 * Miguel Solano White – track and field athlete; bronze medalist in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1936 Summer Olympics

Local

 * Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
 * Bacolod, Negros Occidental
 * Bacoor, Cavite
 * Masbate City, Masbate
 * Sorsogon City, Sorsogon
 * Castilla, Sorsogon
 * Davao City, Davao del Sur

International

 * 🇯🇵 Chōshi, Japan
 * 🇨🇳 Hengyang, China
 * 🇺🇸 Beaumont, Texas, USA

title: Legazpi, Albay


text:
Club sandwich

A club sandwich, also called a clubhouse sandwich, is a sandwich consisting of bread (traditionally toasted), sliced cooked poultry, fried bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. It is often cut into quarters or halves and held together by cocktail sticks. Modern versions frequently have two layers which are separated by an additional slice of bread.

History
The club sandwich may have originated at the Union Club of New York City. The earliest known reference to the sandwich, an article that appeared in The Evening World on November 18, 1889, is also an early recipe: "Have you tried a Union Club sandwich yet? Two toasted pieces of Graham bread, with a layer of turkey or chicken and ham between them, served warm." Several other early references also credit the chef of the Union Club with creating the sandwich.

Another theory is that the club sandwich was invented at the Saratoga Club in Saratoga Springs, New York, after Richard Canfield bought it and made it into the Canfield Casino in 1894.

Other sources find the origin of the club sandwich to be up for debate, with several contemporaneous sources naming Danny Mears as the inventor.

The sandwich appeared on U.S. restaurant menus as early as 1899. The earliest reference to the sandwich in published fiction is from Conversations of a Chorus Girl, a 1903 book by Ray Cardell. Historically, club sandwiches featured slices of chicken, but with time, turkey has become increasingly common. An 1897 recipe has three layers, with the chicken and ham separated not by a slice of bread, but by a lettuce leaf.

Ingredients
As with a BLT, toasted white bread is standard, along with iceberg lettuce, bacon, and tomatoes. The sandwich is usually dressed with mayonnaise. Variations on the traditional club sandwich abound. Some replace the poultry meat with eggs (a "breakfast club") or roast beef. Others use ham instead of, or in addition to, bacon, or add slices of cheese. Various kinds of mustard and sliced pickles may be added. Upscale variations include the oyster club, the salmon club, and Dungeness crab melt.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, 'club sandwich' refers to a tea (or finger) sandwich, typically filled with egg mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.

Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the Chinese name of club sandwich (公司三文治) literally translates to "office sandwich". The regional version in Hong Kong consists of scrambled eggs, Spam, ham, tomato, lettuce and American cheese.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Club sandwich


text:
Talk:Niven numbers

What's the point?

Are you sure these are named after Larry Niven instead of Ivan Niven, author of one of the standard number theory texts, An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers ISBN 0471625469 ?

I think this article should redirect to Harshad number.

title: Talk:Niven numbers


text:
Optus

Singtel Optus Pty Limited (commonly referred to as Optus) is an Australian telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel.

Optus is the second-largest telecommunications company in Australia, with over 11 million customers as of 2023. Its mobile network covers 98.5% of the Australian population, with plans to cover 100% of Australia by 2025 through its partnership with SpaceX.

AUSSAT and deregulation (1981–1990)
Optus can trace its beginnings back to the formation of the Government-owned AUSSAT Pty Limited in 1981. In 1982, Aussat selected the Hughes 376 for their initial satellites, with the first, AUSSAT A1, launched in August 1985. AUSSAT satellites were used for both military and civilian satellite communications, and delivering television services to remote outback communities.

With Aussat operating at a loss and with moves to deregulate telecommunications in Australia, the government decided to sell Aussat, coupled with a telecommunications licence. The licence was sold to Optus Communications – a consortium including:
 * logistics firm Mayne Nickless (24.99%);
 * UK telecommunications company Cable & Wireless (24.50%);
 * US telecommunications company BellSouth (24.50%);
 * AIDC Limited (10.00%);
 * insurance and investment company AMP (10.00%); and
 * insurance and investment company National Mutual (6.02%).

The new telecommunications company was designed to provide competition to then government owned telecommunications company Telecom Australia, now known as Telstra.

Founding of Optus (1991–present)
Optus gained the second general carrier licence in January 1991.

After privatisation, AUSSAT became Optus and its first offering to the general public was to offer long-distance calls at cheaper rates than that of its competitor Telstra. The long-distance calling rates on offer were initially available by consumers dialing 1 before the area code and phone number. Following this, a ballot process was conducted by then regulator AUSTEL, with customers choosing their default long-distance carrier. Customers who made no choice or did not respond to the mailout campaign automatically remained as a Telstra long-distance customer. Customers who remained with Telstra could dial the override code of 1456 before the area code and phone number to manually select Optus as the carrier for that single call. Since 1 July 1998, consumers have the choice of preselecting their preferred long-distance carrier or dialling the override code before dialling a telephone number.

The group began by building an interstate fibre optic cable and a series of exchanges between Optus' interstate network and Telstra's local network. It also laid fibre optics into major office buildings and industrial areas, and focused on high bandwidth local, (interstate) long distance, and interstate calls for business. In its early years, Optus was only able to offer local and long-distance calls to residential customers through Telstra's local phone network. Telstra would carry residential to residential calls to Optus' exchanges, and then the calls would be switched to Optus' long-distance fibre optic network.

In 2024, Singtel held advanced talks with Brookfield to sell a 20% stake in Optus. Brookfield and Singtel were unable to agree on terms, with Singtel claiming afterwards it remained committed to Optus and the Australian market.

2022 cyberattack
Around 22 September 2022, Optus systems sustained a significant cyberattack that resulted in a major data breach of both current and former customers' personal information, including customers’ names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses, with a smaller subset of customers having their street addresses, driving licence details and passport numbers leaked. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin urged customers to exercise "heightened awareness" regarding transactions with their Optus and other accounts. Rosmarin emphasised that passwords were not compromised. The CEO said that the "worst-case scenario" regarding the number of customers whose data had been leaked was 9.8 million customers, but believes the actual number to be far lower.

On 24 September 2022, Australian news outlets The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Optus was investigating the authenticity of a ransom demand of US$1 million made on a hacking forum. The demand gave Optus one week to pay the ransom in cryptocurrency else the data will be sold for US$300,000 to whoever else wants it.

On 6 October, the Australian Federal Police announced the arrest of a 19-year-old man who had allegedly threatened 93 Optus customers by saying that he would use their information leaked in the attack to commit financial crimes, unless they paid AUD $2,000.

In response to the cyberattack, the Australian federal government announced emergency regulation on 6 October, in the form of a 12-month amendment to the Telecommunications Regulations 2021 to "enable telecommunications companies to temporarily share approved government identifier information with regulated financial services entities."

On 11 October, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner launched an investigation, the aim of which is to explore the company's handling of customers' data.

2023 nationwide outage
Early on 8 November 2023, an undetermined issue caused a nationwide outage in Optus Mobile and Fixed Internet services. The outage directly impacted more than 10 million customers, including government services, hospitals and businesses. Optus Mobile customers reported that their phones showed 'SOS' on the signal indicator, which is a sign the regular network is down, but mobile phones still have access to alternate networks in the event of an emergency call by using a so-called camping mechanism; however, Optus landlines were unable to make emergency triple-zero calls. The outage affected the communication systems for Melbourne's train network, so for safety reasons the whole network was halted until backup communications commenced, leading to major delays and cancellations throughout the day.

Chief Executive Officer
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin commenced as CEO of Optus and Consumer Australia on 1 April 2020. She resigned on 20 November 2023.

The hybrid fibre-coax rollout
These practices meant that Optus was the largest customer of Telstra. To become competitive Optus would need to lay its own local phone network. To provide a killer application for this, the Australian Federal government sold subscription television licences. Optus, as well as the Seven Network, businessman Kerry Stokes and American cable company Cablevision, formed the Optus Vision consortium. News Corporation and Telstra created the rival Foxtel consortium.

Telstra's local phone network did not have the capability to deliver Foxtel pay television to consumers in the early 1990s, so Telstra identified a need to create a broadband network to support this new product.

As Telstra and Optus could not agree on terms for a joint broadband cable roll out, they laid two competing cable networks, in addition to Telstra's existing copper network, at a combined cost estimated of over A$6bn.

Whilst Telstra focused on creating a broadband network specifically for broadcast, Optus designed their cable network to provide telephony services in addition to broadcast television.

Optus is no longer a customer of Telstra's after deciding to move the funding used to lease Telstra's copper network into constructing their hybrid fibre-coaxial network, the first in Australia.

Takeovers
Cable & Wireless with 24.5% stakeholder bought out BellSouth's equal 24.5% shareholding in July 1997. The company returned to profitability in 1998 and changed its name to Cable & Wireless Optus. Government relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions paved the way for the company to be floated - with Cable and Wireless increasing its holding to 52.5%) - and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 17 November 1998.

During 2001, Singtel launched a takeover bid for Cable and Wireless Optus which was ultimately successful and the company became known as Singtel Optus.

In May 2004, Optus announced a $226.8 million bid for UEComm. The takeover was approved in July and completed in August.

In July 2005, Optus announced it would acquire Alphawest Ltd. for A$25.9 million. The buyout was completed in November 2005 and Alphawest is now an operating division of Optus Business.

On 12 January 2006, Optus acquired the remaining 74.15% of Virgin Mobile Australia for U$22.6 m, giving it 100% ownership.

OptusNet
Optus Communications offered its first business-focused internet products in 1998 under the OptusNet product family, offering in-house developed dial-up and high-speed services. Optus purchased one of Australia's pioneer ISPs, Microplex, in 1998 to provide consumer dial-up internet services. Separate to this, under the Optus Vision brand, a cable broadband arm began as a joint venture with U.S. cable and content provider Excite@Home and was known as Optus@Home from its introduction in 1999 until it was renamed in 2002. ADSL services were offered from February 2004. ADSL2+ services were provided from December 2005.

OPEL Networks
In June 2007, joint venture subsidiary OPEL Networks was awarded government funding towards the cost of building a regional broadband network. Optus was to be contracted to build the network on behalf of OPEL.

In April 2008, after a change of the Federal Government from the Liberal Party of Australia coalition to the Australian Labor Party, the new government terminated the funding agreement and the project was halted, with its functions to be replaced by the National Broadband Network.

Terria
Optus is part of a consortium – now known as Terria – that in July 2006 announced their intention to make a combined bid to build the proposed National Broadband Network.

Products and services
Optus' Customer Solutions and Services (CS&S) organisation is responsible for providing support to Optus Business customers. CS&S works with Optus' subsidiary Alphawest to support information technology services across Optus' large business, corporate and government client base.

Retail services are sold to customers via phone, internet or through retail outlets, especially franchise chains such as Optus World, Network Communications, Strathfield, TeleChoice, and Allphones.

Key Optus products and services include:

Voice

 * Residential and Commercial POTS for local and long-distance telephony
 * Commercial VoIP and VoDSL
 * Intelligent Network applications, such as free call, 1300 and Interactive voice response services

Wireless

 * 3G/HSPA provided on 2100 MHz for large regional centres and metropolitan and 900 MHz for regional as well as metropolitan coverage. The dual frequencies covers 98% of the population.
 * 4G/LTE provided on 700 / 1800 / 2100 / 2300 / 2600 MHz covering 96.6% of the population.
 * 5G provided on 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz.
 * Satellite telephony covering all of Australia.

Internet access

 * NBN Internet (via Cable, FTTB, FTTC, FTTN, FTTP, Fixed wireless and Satellite)
 * Residential Dial-Up Internet in all states
 * Residential Broadband Internet (via cable and DSL) in all states (except the Northern Territory).
 * Commercial and wholesale internet access
 * Secure Gateway services for Federal Government departments
 * NBN WIRELESS – not continued for new connects

Television

 * Optus Television service provided in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane, including Foxtel Digital

Subsidiaries
A number of notable wholly owned subsidiaries operate as part of the Singtel Optus group. These are:
 * Information Technology & Network Services
 * Alphawest
 * Uecomm
 * Mobile Telephony
 * SIMplus
 * Virgin Mobile Australia
 * Amaysim

Until 20 January 2013, Optus sold mobile services under the brand name Boost Mobile.

Optus also has a 50% stake in the now defunct OPEL Networks.

Other wholly owned subsidiaries of note no longer have a significant active role as individual entities. These are as follows:

Reef Networks was formed in 1999 to provide an optical fibre link between Brisbane and Cairns in Queensland. Optus gained exclusive access to this link in 2001, ahead of acquiring the organisation in 2005.

XYZed was established by Optus in 2000 to provide wholesale business-grade DSL services under an individual brand, but today provides a collection of products only as part of the Optus Wholesale & Satellite division. XYZed established a network of DSLAMs inside Telstra telephone exchanges, utilising Unconditioned Local Loop services to reach end users.

Infrastructure
Optus' fully owned network infrastructure consists of the following:

Network backbone

 * ExtraTerrestrial Fibre Optic Network
 * Cairns to Brisbane
 * Brisbane to Sydney (fully diverse over two physically separate paths)
 * Sydney to Melbourne (fully diverse over two physically separate paths, one via Canberra, one via the coast)
 * Melbourne to Adelaide
 * Adelaide to Perth
 * SDH Digital Microwave
 * Hobart to Launceston
 * Satellite
 * Fleet of geostationary satellites (See Optus fleet of satellites)
 * International Earth Stations in Sydney and Perth
 * National Earth Stations in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Darwin
 * Regional exchanges in Sydney (Rosebery), Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.
 * Telehousing Data Centres in Melbourne and Sydney

Customer access network

 * Hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, providing consumer fixed telephony, cable internet and cable television services.
 * CBD optical fibre rings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Wollongong, providing direct access for corporate and government services.
 * DSLAMs in certain Telstra local telephone exchanges in all states. Originally only providing business-grade DSL services, newer installations also provide consumer DSL and POTS telephony.

OptusNet also provides Cable internet. In August 2010, OptusNet released an upgrade of its HFC network to the DOCSIS 3.0 standard, which enabled customers to access a maximum theoretical downstream bandwidth of 100 Megabits. OptusNet is also one of the few ISPs in Australia to currently provide ADSL2+ via its own DSLAMs, which it also resells to other ISPs.

Mobile network
Mobile network equipment is from Nortel, Nokia and Huawei and antennas are sourced from Andrews, RFS, Argus and Kathrein.

The Optus network operates on the following bandwidth frequencies across Australia:
 * 3G UMTS 900/2100 MHz
 * 4G LTE 700 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2300 / 2600 MHz network which has been in progressive rollout since 2012. VoLTE is currently being rolled out across Australia. For now, VoLTE is only available in CBD and metro areas in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra on selected devices purchased on postpaid contracts. Until VoLTE has been fully rolled out, voice calling is still reliant on the 3G network (and formerly the 2G network until it was terminated).
 * 5G NR 3500 MHz rollout started in October 2019

The 2G GSM 900/1800 MHz network was terminated on 3 April 2017 in Western Australia and Northern Territory. 2G GSM was completely terminated on 1 August 2017 when 2G was disconnected in Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia. To remain connected, a device that is capable of running 3G at 900 MHz is now required after 2G was completely disconnected across Australia.

Partly owned infrastructure
Part-owned network infrastructure includes:
 * 3G mobile network, a joint venture with Vodafone Australia
 * Southern Cross Cable, a fully diverse submarine optical fibre link across the Pacific Ocean between Sydney, New South Wales and California in the United States. The Singtel group owns a 40% interest in Southern Cross Cables Limited. This interest was originally owned by Singtel Optus Pty Limited, before ownership was transferred to parent company Singtel during the March 2006 - June 2006 quarter.

Advertising and sponsorship
Between 1994 and 2005 Optus had the naming rights to the Carlton football clubs original home ground in Princes Park. It was called Optus Oval until the ground was retired by the AFL in 2005.

Optus was the main sponsor of the 1997 ARL season.

In 2016, Optus signed a 10-year partnership agreement with the Australian Olympic Committee to be the official partner of the Australian Olympic Team and the Australian Paralympic Team until 2026.

In 2017, Optus won naming rights to Perth Stadium where it would be known as Optus Stadium. Optus and the Government of Western Australia agreed to a 10-year naming right worth approximately A$50 million.

Optus also has a long-term partnership with the Adelaide Crows in the AFL. Optus has been a partner of the Collingwood Magpies in the AFL Women's since 2018.

Optus is the current major sponsor for the No. 25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden ZB Commodore driven by Chaz Mostert

Outsourcing
Since 2005, Optus has outsourced some customer service functions to Concentrix and 247.ai, with the outsourcer providing 800 staff operating offshore in India, supplementing Optus' 3,000-plus onshore call centre staff. Some functions have also been supplemented in the Philippines. Optus also uses 24/7 Inc. for telephone & chat based offshore support.

In October 2006, Optus announced that it would outsource 100 contracting jobs to another Singtel subsidiary, IT company NCS, in Singapore.

title: Optus