Mobile price war in Aussie

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ajw

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#69906 15-Oct-2010 10:02

Mobile price war in Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/1-a-day-marks-the-start-of-telco-prepaid-price-war-20101014-16lxo.html

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#392119 15-Oct-2010 10:05

hmm...we need more wars in nz :p

ajw

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#392303 15-Oct-2010 16:10

More info on Optus prepay pricing.

http://www.optus.com.au/aboutoptus/About+Optus/Media+Centre/Media+Releases/2010/Optus+unlocks+unprecedented+value+on+Pre-Paid+with+Optus+Dollar+Days

sbiddle

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#392409 15-Oct-2010 22:30

And for those who blame MTR costs for high calling in NZ - remember Australia has MTR's that are still relatively high compared to what NZers want and yet can have pricing as good as this.

SaltyNZ

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#392425 15-Oct-2010 23:30

Hmmmm, about $120NZD a month for 2000 minutes. Not bad, but then again they have on the order of ten times the population too.

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blakamin

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#392463 16-Oct-2010 07:05

SaltyNZ: Not bad, but then again they have on the order of ten times the population too.

I really wish people would stop using that as an excuse... They also have more than 10 times the landmass and more than ten times the coastline (where you can get cellphone coverage).
And it's only about 5 times the population anyway.

SaltyNZ

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#392466 16-Oct-2010 07:16

blakamin:
SaltyNZ:? Not bad, but then again they have on the order of ten times the population too.

I really wish people would stop using that as an excuse... They also have more than 10 times the landmass and more than ten times the coastline (where you can get cellphone coverage).
And it's only about 5 times the population anyway.

It's far more than 10 times the land mass. But 99% of it is uninhabited.

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blakamin

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#392468 16-Oct-2010 07:29

Yeah, I know

(this is the bit where I tell everyone I'm an Aussie)

Edit: Still sick of hearing the excuse tho. Oz population is more than 10 times smaller than India, England and Canada but look at the commonwealth games results

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SaltyNZ

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#392470 16-Oct-2010 07:41

So am I. :)

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SaltyNZ

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#392472 16-Oct-2010 07:42

Ah, an Aussie, that is.

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blakamin

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#392473 16-Oct-2010 07:59

Excellent! (and friended :D)

ajw

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#392633 16-Oct-2010 16:36

SaltyNZ: Hmmmm, about $120NZD a month for 2000 minutes. Not bad, but then again they have on the order of ten times the population too.

And they do a unlimited BYO plan for $79.

http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_woRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/mobilephones/handset_details&site=personal&mt=handset_details&sort=e3b31754349ff5d34fab20f1c8bcc4310a97de210DIV12

ojala

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#401866 8-Nov-2010 21:25

SaltyNZ: Hmmmm, about $120NZD a month for 2000 minutes. Not bad, but then again they have on the order of ten times the population too.

Just for a comparison;

A subscription with 3000 minutes within the same mobile network (3 million subscribers), 7 NZD/month

A subscription with 3000 minutes to all numbers, 3000 texts, 3000 mms, 69 NZD/month

"Less than euro a day" price advantage, 12 month contract, 1.75 NZD/day for unlimited calls to any number, that's about 52.50 NZD/month

In a market with 5 million people in a country slightly larger than NZ. The number of mobile subscriptions is actually over 8 million, all post-paid. The real cost for a call is very small, it's all about staying above the ARPU (which is around 37 NZD/month). I personally have a 1 NZD/month subscription because I don't need 3000 minutes but I have enabled the "less than euro a day" deal.

NZ is not a too small market, most of the NZ population lives in quite a small area, and even a remote island isn't a good excuse for local calls.

One can do it two ways; keep high prices, and keep the volumes down. Or have competitive prices, and bring up the volume. Here the call volumes in the mobile networks are 10 times larger than in the fixed network, and the fixed telephone network is dying (15% of subscriptions cancelled annually). Could (should?) happen in NZ, too.

cyril7

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#401915 9-Nov-2010 07:17

Here the call volumes in the mobile networks are 10 times larger than in the fixed network, and the fixed telephone network is dying (15% of subscriptions cancelled annually)

And I guess you will now tell me that those cancelled Cu connections are being replaced by fibre at minimal cost, ahhhhh I feel ill again.

Cyril

ojala

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#401924 9-Nov-2010 07:57

cyril7: And I guess you will now tell me that those cancelled Cu connections are being replaced by fibre at minimal cost, ahhhhh I feel ill again.

You wish :D

But like elsewhere, the number of DSL users is going down for various reasons.

People with little needs go to mobile broadband, ~20 NZD/month for flat rate w/USB stick, MiFi or something similar.

People with more needs go for what they can get;
1) If you're lucky, there's fiber. 70 NZD/month for 100/10 fiber. Gigabit is just being launched for 180 NZD/mo.
2) If you're almost as lucky, you've got cable TV. 80 NZD/mo for 110/5, 100 NZD/mo for 200/10.
3) If you're not lucky, you'll get adsl2+ for 50 NZD/mo.

There are frequently cheaper offers with 12-24 month contracts, and you can get lower speeds for less. But the prices and availability is not the same across the country, a friend is building a house in a town of 10,000 people and got fiber installed. I live in the capital city and I can get neither fiber or cable tv (~500 m away). It's nor fair and I don't like it (in my case), but i think that's exactly how it should be.

Just to say that healthy competition can exist in a small country, and with some real competition the carriers will actually install fiber by themselves without government incentives. Also the development in both mobile data (LTE trial is up and running) and cable TV have put the carriers to have less interest in the Cu network. What's happening in bigger countries, like UK and Australia, isn't really too far from what's happening here or has already happened. Things can (and should) happen in a small country faster.

In fact they're shutting down the Cu network in rural areas and replace it with mobile. That's why we hit the international news recently with the government decision that everyone has a right for broadband internet. It was about politics and the votes from the rural areas. The decision was to guarantee that the mobile broadband would be of decent quality, comparable to what they got with the Cu network.

What happens with the Cu telephones? Recycled. People use mobile phones for voice calls.

PS. I'm positive that one day, even in NZ, most of the voice traffic will be mobile and the Cu/fiber/... is all about data. Obviously there are reasons why the carriers don't want it to happen quite yet, they need to milk the cow first..

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#401925 9-Nov-2010 08:02

ojala:
3) If you're not lucky, you'll get adsl2+ for 50 NZD/mo.

Or if you're even LESS lucky, there's DSL ~2M/300k for $50NZD/mth. :-( The big disadvantage of a geek living in the sticks!

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These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

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