It is a huge blow for the current rights holders Fox Sports,and rich Qatar-owned broadcaster BeIN Sports,who both reportedly submitted competing bids.
Fox Sports,which is part-owned by Optus'telco rival Telstra,said they were"disappointed"to lose the rights as the league's foundation broadcast partner in Australia.
The deal is expected to have wider implications for broadcast sport in Australia,with the English Premier League a central part of Foxtel's strategy of targeting sports-mad subscribers.
Optus released a statement on Monday morning announcing the shock deal,describing it as"another significant step in our strategy to become a mobile-led multimedia company".
"Today's announcement is a great win for Optus and will ensure that Aussie football fans can watch all the action from the world's most popular football league,"CEO Allen Lew said in the statement.
It is unclear how the public will access the content at this stage,with no specific details on"product constructs or pricing at this stage".
"Our goal is to make this content available to as many fans as possible – but we're not going in to detail about distribution platforms at this stage,"a spokeswoman for Optus told Fairfax Media.