By
technicool on October 9th, 2006
Posted in Industry & Competitors | Comments Off
The Border Mail - Untimed calls in mobile plans
Untimed calls in mobile plans
Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo in TV advertisement that began last night.
TELSTRA says pricing plans for its NEXT G mobile broadband network offer untimed voice calls to most fixed lines and Telstra mobiles in Australia.
Telstra turned on its $1 billion NEXT G mobile broadband network on Friday, offering high-speed wireless mobile and internet access to 98 per cent of Australians.
The telco says it wants to claim leadership by May next year in the third generation, or 3G, market share for services such as mobile television, email and downloads.
To experience the advantages of the NEXT G network, consumers will pay at least $52 per month, which includes a $40 per month voice plan, and $12 for access to 12 channels of Foxtel for a maximum of 200 minutes.
This, however, does not include the 25c for each local text message, and data charges which can be on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Data charges — the cost of using the internet — can also be set at a $5, $8, or $29 monthly fees depending on the amount of data users intend to access.
Alternatively, users can pay $55 per month for a voice plan that includes a new mobile phone.
Telstra group managing director of consumer marketing and channels, David Moffatt, said customers had been increasingly frustrated by the so-called capped plans.
Capped plans, offered by Telstra and its rivals, Hutchison, Vodafone and Optus, include a $49 cost, for example, with $200 worth of calls, but a higher cost for calls after that.
“This is designed to provide Telstra customers transparency for pricing,” Mr Moffatt said.
By
Administrator on October 9th, 2006
Posted in Industry & Competitors | Comments Off
Telstra Launches $1B 3G Network In Australia; $45 Million AFL Content Deal
Australian telecom giant Telstra has officially launched its “turbo-charged NEXT G” network, a HSDPA one.
From the press release:
“We have created a unique ‘My Place’ menu to give our customers easy, 1-click access to nine services and applications that are most relevant to them. With a simple ‘1-touch, 1-click’ our customers can access FOXTEL, Sensis search, BigPond content, music, email, photos, downloads, maps and My Account information.
In an Australian first, customers can:
- watch 12 channels of FOXTEL exclusively on their NEXT G handset, including news, sport, wildlife documentaries, and children’s programs, with more to come;
- access Telstra’s award winning BigPond Mobile service offering entertainment, news, and exclusive content including AFL (for which Telstra
paid $45 million for the digital rights), NRL, and V8 Supercars;
- watch Warner Bros. classic movies and the BBC’s best television programs
on their PCs through the BigPond Movie Download service;
- download a music track to both their mobile and computer in 1-click; and
- benefit from Telstra’s ‘locate me’ technology which matches
their location with their information request through Sensis services such as
CitySearch, WhereIs, Trading Post and Yellow Mobile.”
;
Telstra invested AU$1 billion dollars (746 million US) in the network (on top
of the amount paid to buy into Hutchison’s separate 3G network). Telstra
has made several serious but incompetent attempts into selling mobile content
— for the sake of everybody I hope this attempt is more successful.