Finally, ‘3’ Mobile to get 96% Aussie 3G coverage! - UPDATED

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 07:24

Opinion and Analysis

In Noel’s place comes Jedi Master Nigel Dews, the CEO of Hutchison Telecoms (parent company of 3 Mobile in Australia”, saying that: “Plans to extend 3’s 3G network mean that our customers will be able to access their 3G services in far more places, and with the appetite for services like the internet on the mobile growing rapidly, it makes good sense.”

Dews’ news continues that: “In addition to providing more access to our 3G services, these initiatives will reduce our roaming costs.  Both new sites being added and lower wholesale roaming costs will have a significant impact.”

But while Dews says that 3 Mobile will have “lower whole roaming costs”, Dews shares no views on whether or not this will mean that customers will enjoy “lower roaming costs”, too.

However, given 3 Mobile’s competitive nature, it would seem to make sense that if wholesale roaming costs are lowered, 3 Mobile will lower roaming costs for consumers.

The only question then is: will those roaming costs be eliminated for consumers, or only reduced?

I’d imagine it would depend on just how large 3 Mobile’s own network is, compared with that “parts” of Telstra’s 850MHz network it will need to use to get to that magical 96% figure.

But either way, it’s great news for 3 Mobile customers and great news for more competition in the Australian mobile space.

Also - I naturally contacted 3 Mobile to ask them if roaming charges would fall, but they were unable to confirm anything at this stage beyond the details in their press release, hence my deductions about possible roaming charge changes above.

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UPDATE: 3 Mobile has been in contact to answer the question: "Will roaming be cheaper given you are saving on wholesale roaming?"

The answer: "Currently there will be no change to roaming costs.  When we are able to switch on 3G coverage to 96% of the population we will more than likely be able to bring roaming costs down as a result of the new deal."
 
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Up until this announcement, I was wondering just what 3 Mobile would do when it was the only telco with city only 3G coverage and services, but with this announcement, the “force” is strongly back with 3 Mobile network.

The news has given me a new hope about 3 Mobile's prospects. With 96% coverage coming to almost match its competitors, 3 Mobile is no phantom menace!

Still... despite the fact that 3 Mobile has a roaming agreement in place with Telstra which has been active since 2004, and which is clearly being extended to some 850MHz towers... one can only wonder, on a competitive and marketing level... how the Telstra Empire will strike back.