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.
The announcement then goes on to say that both companies
in the event of the merger proceeding have confirmed that, "all new and
existing contract customers of Vodafone and 3 will be able
to enjoy the same great value offered on all existing Vodafone and 3
mobile voice and data plans for the next 2 years."
Given that many subscribers have already recently signed on to a two-year contract, that's good to know.
The announcement also says that $0 upfront 24-month contracts will
still be on offer. That's also good to know but still says little about
the pricing of those contracts.
Nigel Dews, CEO of 3 and proposed CEO of VHA, the merged company,
said: “We operate in a fast-moving market and we want to be clear that,
following the merger, Vodafone and 3 will remain extremely competitive
and continue to provide great value to customers.
“We’re happy
to reassure our customers with a public commitment that if the merger
proceeds as intended, no plan will be withdrawn from market for the
next two years.
“During this time we will also be introducing new offers and services to appeal to new customers.”
What
the above amounts to is a limited guarantee that the new player will
maintain the currently aggressive pricing policies of both companies
for just two years. After that all bets are off.
It's hard to
see how the creation of an operator of the same scale as the current
two big players will not result in a lessening of competition. True,
there will be a choice between three big operators, a similar sort of
choice that we currently enjoy between the big four banks - and we know
how hard they compete don't we?
David Bass
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