That’s particularly so in the post-paid market, where Telstra’s share of the market is being seriously challenged by Optus with its offering of competitive plans on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones.
Latest research on smartphone penetration in Australia by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Optus has achieved significant share gains in the post-paid market, grabbing new users from Telstra.
According to the research, 40% of all Samsung Galaxy S6/ S6 Edge devices bought in the 3 months to June this year are connected to the Optus network, with 92% of them on a contract.
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In its smartphone market report Kantar reveals that overall smartphone penetration is up to 78.3%, +0.8%pts compared to last quarter (March) and +5.5%pts compared to the same period last year.
And, the post-paid segment now makes up 56.2% of the total mobile phone customer base, with a third of mobile phone subscribers choosing prepaid and the rest on a no-contract tariff which makes up 10.7%, up +1.2%pts since last quarter.
Despite the Optus success in the post-paid segment, Kantar’s research shows that Telstra’s share of the overall smartphone market remains stable and the big telco is more than holding its own in the prepaid market – “where customers are generally switching from Optus – these churners tend to be males aged under 35.”
On Vodafone, Kantar says marketshare recovery continues, with its share increasing year on year in the prepaid market and, “to some extent, in the larger post-paid sector, driven by an increased NPS and satisfaction rating among Vodafone customers.”
Kantar says Vodafone’s efforts in improving network performance were reflected in a lower level of customer churn from VHA for network reasons over the past 12 months, while new Vodafone customers have largely come from MVNOs such as Lebara and Aldi, “with these churners typically males aged 50 to 60, switching from prepaid to post-paid.”
Kantar : Australian Mobile Phone Owners aged 16+: Carrier Share (%)
(Primary Mobile Only)
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Total Market |
|
Prepaid Market |
|
Postpaid Market |
|
No Contract |
||||
|
|
Jun-14 |
Jun-15 |
Jun-14 |
Jun-15 |
Jun-14 |
Jun-15 |
Jun-14 |
Jun-15 |
|||
|
Share% |
|
|
36.8 |
33.0 |
63.2 |
56.3 |
n/a |
10.7 |
|||
|
Telstra |
40.2 |
40.2 |
37.0 |
40.1 |
42.1 |
42.5 |
- |
29.0 |
|||
|
Optus |
20.9 |
21.4 |
21.9 |
20.3 |
20.3 |
22.8 |
- |
17.9 |
|||
|
VHA* Vodafone |
16.7 15.3 |
15.7 15.3 |
15.1 14.5 |
15.4 15.1 |
17.6 15.8 |
16.5 16.0 |
- - |
12.0 12.0 |
|||
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Virgin |
6.5 |
6.4 |
5.8 |
5.5 |
7.0 |
6.6 |
- |
7.9 |
|||
|
Amaysim |
3.7 |
3.8 |
7.3 |
6.7 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
- |
8.3 |
|||
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Aldi |
1.6 |
1.8 |
3.9 |
4.3 |
- |
- |
- |
1.2 |
|||
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TPG |
2.8 |
2.7 |
2.0 |
1.3 |
3.3 |
2.5 |
- |
8.4 |
|||
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Other MVNOs |
7.5 |
8.0 |
6.8 |
6.4 |
8.1 |
8.0 |
- |
15.3 |
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*Total VHA figure includes Crazy Johns and 3
