Australia’s largest mobile operator Telstra has overhauled the pricing structure of its Next G mobile broadband service, in a bid to keep its arch rivals Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia at bay.
Telstra has doubled the monthly data allowance of its A$29.95 ($27.83) per month entry-level Next G plan to 400MB. It has also shaved A$20 a month off its A$59.95 a month plan, which offers 1GB of data, and abolished charges for excess data usage. The new pricing kicks in on January 18.
“In the last few quarters, Optus and Vodafone have started to catch up with Telstra in terms of winning mobile broadband net additions,” Ovum’s Australian mobile analyst, Nathan Burley, told telecomasia.net. “This is Telstra responding to make sure it continues to attract strong mobile broadband net adds.”
After the revamp, Next G’s standalone packages will still not be as attractive as those of its rivals. For instance, Optus offers 2GB of data for A$25 with a 12 month contract.
But Burley believes that Telstra’s new bundled package deals do “offer attractive price points.”
“Bundled pricing puts Telstra’s tariffs close to its competitors,” says Burley. “Telstra has introduced bundled discounts where a customer gets A$10 off their mobile broadband service if they have one other service with Telstra. The discount increases to A$20 if the subscriber has two other services with Telstra.
Telstra also has the advantage of greater coverage and speed compared with its two mobile broadband rivals, adds Burley.