Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 21 July 2008 19:22
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 4
Video calls are set at 500 minutes per month or around
8.3 hours. So you might want to make a few video calls to use up this
limit instead of chewing up your voice minutes.
SMS messages are either 500 per month or 1000 –
it’s hard to tell from Optus’ Fair Go Policy. 500 MMS messages seems to
be the limit as well.
Now, it has to be said, this is still a lot of usage for the money. But it clearly isn’t timeless or unlimited!
It’s also something that has been predicted, by myself and others, to happen.
Given the competitive nature of the Australian telecommunications
market, and given the broad reach and faster speeds of the Telstra Next
G network, even after Vodafone and Optus finish their 3.5G rollouts,
competition on price is the quickest way to get as many customers to
churn over to ‘your’ services as possible.
So... Optus is playing this card. How are they characterising the deal, and will Vodafone, Three and Telstra respond?
Well, despite the fact the ‘yes timeless’ plan is neither timeless nor
unlimited, Optus is nevertheless throwing down the gauntlet to its
three big competitors.
While Telstra while claim to be justified in always charging higher
prices due to the geographic reach of its Next G network and the faster
network speeds, Three and Vodafone cannot make this claim.
Those in areas serviced by Next G in terms of speed or coverage will
not find customers churning, but most customers will be in GSM or 3G
zones that Optus and Vodafone cover, with 3 Mobile limited to the major
capital cities and the Gold Coast only, falling back to Telstra’s GSM
network in outlying areas.
Thus, Optus has chosen the price route to “steal” customers from its
three major competitors. It’s a smart move, and demands a response from
Vodafone and 3 Mobile. Telstra, for now, can sit pretty, but it too
will be forced to respond, especially if Vodafone and 3 Mobile respond
to Optus’ pricing attack.
Warren Hardy, Optus Consumer Managing Director, explains how Optus will characterise its new plans, saying:
“This industry first will change the way customers use their mobile by
providing unlimited calls and SMS to networks within Australia.
Un-timed calls will no longer be restricted to a landline.
“In the late nineties we revolutionised the mobile market with
‘YesTime’ and now ‘yes’ Timeless is another milestone in innovation for
Optus."
Hardy's comments and my final thoughts are continued on page 4.
