Telstra launches multi-user business mobile plans

By Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 13:27

Home IT

More than a year after similar initiatives from Optus and Vodafone, Telstra has launched mobile plans that enable businesses to share usage quotas across multiple users.

Key features include free calls in Australia between services on the same account, one rate for both video and voice calls, per second charging, and the ability for users on the same account to share any unused credit across their services.

The new plans Business Mobile Plus cater for from one 80 users and more with monthly access fees that range from $25 to $160 and that include calls to that value (but the rates vary with the plan).

There is also an included amount of mobile data, from 50MB on the $25 plan to $1.5GB on the $160 plan, an amount which seems very modest for plans that are designed to cater for 80 users and beyond.

Telstra Business executive director Yasmin Dugan said small business customers were demanding more flexible pricing plans allowing them to combine a number of services on the one account. "Our research and customer feedback has highlighted a growing need for integrated mobile voice, SMS, data and email plans in reflection of the changing way customers are doing business."

However this is nothing new. Optus launched a similar services in August 2008, but seemingly designed for larger businesses - fixed monthly fees were up to $1999 - and including call 'value' well in excess of the monthly fee ($10,000 in the case of the $1999 plan). Also Optus seemed to envisage much higher data usage: up to 15GB on a plan designed for a maximum of only 12 users.

Vodafone was hot on Optus' heels with the launch of a similar service in September 2008 and in April this year Optus expanded its plans to include fixed line voice and data services . This meant that included voice call value and included data could be taken over fixed or mobile services.

The Optus services charged above quota mobile data at a hefty 15 cents per MByte and iTWire observed that, with multiple users, a business could easily find itself hit with a substantial excess data charge.

Information on Telstra's excess data policy was not evident on the Business Mobile Plus web site.

This article first appeared in ExchangeDaily, iTWire's daily newsletter for telecommunications professionals. Register here for your free trial.