John Linton
Exetel hasn't changed its plans/prices for over a year now with the exception of some minor included peak time quota changes and the gradual increase of the off peak download allowance from 36 gb to 48 gb and the extention of the off peak period to a full 12 hours a day each day of the month.
We have added 20 free SMS, low cost fax and increased the free web space allowance but these 'add ons' don't affect the basic plans.
So I spent some time yesterday trying to determine what could be done (no reductions in Telstra, Optus or Powertel port/back haul prices have occurred as yet) so any 'reduction in prices would have to come from already paper thin profit margins - typically Exetel makes around $1.50 per month from its ADSL services which usually results in a 'break even' result (allowing for all the things that 'go wrong' in any given month) from going to all of the expense, effort and heartache of providing ADSL to the Australian marketplaces we currently service.
With the not too distant contract end dates for our premises, IP traffic, GigE links and several other less expensive monthly costs now could be a good time to decide to get out of the ADSL business completely over the coming 12 to 18 months. It makes a lot of sense to seriously consider that option as the other 9 services offered by Exetel are now of sufficient size to provide a good, and growing income, and all deliver realistic profit levels with minimal infrastructure and support costs.
I spent much of the 'small hours' of this morning (courtesy of very painful knee ailment) watching Manchester and Chelsea lose their respective FA cup matches while mulling this over. It has a lot to commend it and would provide a significant profit increase while it was happening as the best way of accomplishing it would be to increase all current plan prices by $5.00, $7.50 and $10.00 (depending on current monthly charges) which would immediately generate an additional $A300,000 profit a month - which would be a pleasant bonus for the past four years incredibly difficult and unbelievably demanding efforts.
However as first Chelsea and then Manchester lost their respective games (which perversely cheered me up immensely after Arsenal's dismal performance in the previous round) and the extreme pain I was suffering from which had made it impossible for me to sleep eased losing its fight with the 4 Neurophins, I started looking at the other concept of producing lower cost plans. This is, obviously, much more difficult to do and after some consideration I came back to the conclusion I have always come to when trying to find ways of reducing plan costs in the absence of carrier cost reductions - it could only be done by devising plans that suit completely different sectors of the market than the current Exetel customer bases.
I had begun to devise lower cost plans based on 'bundling' low cost mobile minutes and low cost telephone calls/VoIP calls and equipment which were beginning to make some sense when my mind followed my left knee's pain in being overcome by the Neurophin assault and I fell asleep.
This morning, over breakfast, I looked at the notes I had been making, at least the ones I could decipher, and there are some germs of good ideas in those 'drug influenced' thoughts. One of the concepts that, drug induced or not, appeals to me immensely as all simple ideas always do. That was the one plan fits all concept of:
1) Base monthly charge - $30.00
2) Includes 1 gb of download with additional downloads at $2.00 (no off peak allowances)
3) Speed 1500/256
4) Includes mobile sim with lowest in the market call charges
5) Includes 100 VoIP calls per gb with subsequent calls at lowest in the market VoIP rates
6) Activation charge of $145.00 - includes VoIP/ADSL pre set up modem
It needs more work but it may well be something that can produce a real result.
The problem with ADSL,for a small company like Exetel, is that the margins achievable have never been very good even 4 years ago before the current intense price oriented campaigns put in place by Telstra.With Telstra and Optus trying to beat each other as to which company can give away the most.
It's not clear to me any more why Exetel should offer ADSL services as part of a financially sensible business plan going forward.