John Linton
It's that time of the review cycle again where we look at our mobile telephone offerings and, yet again, ponder the stupidities and mysteries of the mobile carrier's love of "capped" plans which are not "capped" and the, presumably, equally impossible to understand attraction the mobile telephone buyers have to "capped" plans.
I've probably referenced my total bafflement with the buyer/seller symbiosis that has seen this 'cancer' overtake all rationality in the provision of mobile telephone services to the point where, it appears to me, that the buyers agree that they are truly stupid and that they want to be conned by the "Get $1,000 Worth Of Calls For 1 Cent" 'headlines' that are, apparently, the essential main wording of every mobile plan ad.
I have always looked at technology pricing in the most straight forward of ways. You get a certain amount of service for a stated rate that the buyer can easily understand and compare. Obviously that's not the way mobile phone call plansĀ are offered for sale.
So we will, yet again, try and offer mobile plans that will "appeal" to what the mobile carriers have deemed, by long usage, that the buying public want to see:
Large Amount Of Calls At Huge Discounts - If the headline ad is to be believed.
A long time reader of this blog who has always offered opinions that gave every indication of a reasoning and intelligent mind recently pointed out the fantastic value of a new TPG (no contract) plan that offered $300.00 for $20.00. Fair enough - here's a company apparently offering the buyer a 93% discountĀ - what a fantastic deal - in anyone's language.
But does anyone with any sort of intelligence really believe that that in any competitive market anywhere on the planet there is so much profit in any product or service that it can be sold for 5% of its retail price? Apparently there are.
Maybe not - maybe everyone knows that they really aren't getting a 95% discount and that the carriers are misrepresenting the truth but it's OK because they all do the same and it's just a 'cue' to work out how many minutes of calls you actually get for the monthly "capped" price. There is little doubt that the TPG plan (using the Optus mobile network) is the best value available compared to all other $20.00 "capped" plans from all other carriers or their re-sellers. A quick, and by no means comprehensive, 'analysis' of other $20 offerings seems to show that TPG offer around twice as many calls as all other providers of mobile services.
Looking at the current market the 'average' "value" is around $150.00 of calls for $20.00. Of course it isn't that simple as the call rates and flag falls and data costs and...... all vary but this 'war' is fought on the two head lines of:
"$10 million worth of calls for $00.001 cent a month'
'logic'.
Doubtless the "Soul" part of the current TPG had built up some large volumes selling Optus mobile services and therefore buy infinitely better than Exetel's tiny numbers alows us to buy the same minutes for. However, even in my wildest imaginings and humblest view of Exetel's less than stellar negotiating skills, I can't believe that TPG buys at less than 50% of every other large mobile retail seller/reseller most of which are far larger than Soul let alone at 80% less than Exetel, tiny though it may be, buys mobile minutes for. Yet that is what TPGs retail pricing suggests - so it must be true.
Exetel will offer 'new' mobile plans by COB this coming Friday and will incorporate new "capped" plans that are more than comparable to those offered by the main mobile resellers and carriers although I don't understand any more today than at any time in the past why I'm allowing Exetel's straightforward and, well - honest, pricing policies to be 'sullied' by conforming to those prevalent in the mobile market.
I would prefer to sell mobile services on the honest basis of:
No flag fall
Charge per second (not 30 seconds)
0.25 cents per second
Then again - I think that all 'savvy' mobile call buyers will use VoIP over HSPA mobile in the near future and pay 10 cents per untimed PSTN call and 30 cents per untimed mobile call and this whole "capped call" smoke and mirrors nonsense will just disappear.