Telstra seriously ups ante with no excess wireless broadband charges

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 20 October 2008 07:00

IT Industry - Strategy

Another improvement Telstra could make to its network is the removal of upload charges, something all carriers charge on their 3.5G networks. This can make online backup services very expensive to use through a wireless service, at least for the initial major backup.

But the problem would also be solved by even larger download limits – how long will it be before 20GB, 50GB and 100GB plans are available at the same price as today’s 10GB plan from Telstra?

Hopefully these changes will come sooner rather than later, but it’s clearly a step-by-step process, and while progress hasn’t been as fast as I would personally have liked, we’re certainly moving in the right direction.

It’s easy to predict even lower prices now from Vodafone, Optus and Three, at some stage if not very soon (for example, something like a 10GB for $49.95 or $59.95 from someone like Three mobile).

However it could also mean more lower value customers wanting an as-yet unavailable 5GB for $29.95 plan to clog up competing networks.

All those competitive responses to Telstra’s latest move are yet to come, but now the biggest carrier has broken the 10GB barrier on wireless, and has now broken the “no excess charges” barrier, too.

Finally Australia is now getting much more reasonable pricing on the world’s fastest 3.5G wireless broadband network, meaning more Australians can actually afford to use it, while having some real price certainty.

It’s the price change and removal of excess fees that Telstra had to have, and perfectly timed in these economically troubled, recessionary times.

Now we wait to see how its competitors respond, something they will surely have to do, while keeping in mind the balance needed on their networks!