Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
As expected, Telstra has left the unveiling of its prices to the very
last minute, refusing to get caught up in the lead up to the launch of
a new iPhone, and has even managed some pricing surprises, although
nothing to truly match Vodafone’s unlimited voice plan!
As long as Telstra has a mobile phone and mobile data network that has a coverage area and speed that’s twice that of competitors, Telstra will feel justified in charging higher prices for as long as it can.
Before getting to prices, Telstra again reminds of some of the iPhone 3G S benefits, particularly when connected to the Telstra web site.
Telstra’s Consumer Executive Director, Ms Glenice Maclellan, said “only Telstra customers get access to the Next G network - Australia's largest and fastest national mobile network as well as Australia’s most comprehensive range of mobile content and the largest retail network to provide sales support.”
The press release continues, saying: “The iPhone 3GS comes with 7.2Mbps downlink capability – which is twice as fast as the iPhone3G when used with a capable network such as Telstra’s Next G network.”
Telstra says its new speed allows a typical MP3 track to download in around 10 seconds, watch Youtube clips with less buffering and a “9MB file or document [able to] be downloaded in around 20 seconds – about twice as fast as if you team the device with a 3.6Mbps mobile network.”
Telstra is finally introducing its “consumer Next G/3G cap plans”, presumably bringing some price relief to new customer, while also offering a “Phone Plan” and a “Phone Plan Ultimate”.
According to Telstra: “Customers can purchase the 32GB or the 16GB iPhone 3GS model for $0 on our great value $150 Phone Plan Ultimate. Each month customers could get up to 2,000 minutes of standard voice calls, 2,000 text messages in Australia and 150MB of data.”
Only 150mb of data as part of the deal, before you're forced to buy more!
For a similar charge, AT&T in the US offers unlimited data and calls, while Vodafone offers unlimited voice calls and 2GB of data for AUD $114 per month, so Telstra is trading on its network superiority while it can, and no doubt for as long as it can.
There’s also a range of other plans, from entry level up to the full whack, so you’ll need to choose wisely if you’re going with Telstra, especially if you want its range of coverage and faster data speeds, otherwise a Vodafone, Virgin, Optus or Three Mobile iPhone 3GS might be more affordable.
So, the race to sign up the most iPhone 3G S customers begins anew. Optus ended up with a lot of iPhones not happy to be on Optus in last year's iPhone 3G era, and the spotlight is on Vodafone who have come out with an aggressive $114 unlimited call and 2GB plan not to slow their network down in the same way.
Even Telstra have responded by introducing its 3G caps into the mix. All I’d like to see now on the Telstra 3G S iPhone is “Mobile Foxtel” taking advantage of the new streaming capabilities.
C’mon Telstra, it’s now easily possible – when will you do it?
David Bass
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