John Linton ....other issues got in the way as they usually do.....which is a pity as it would have been an interesting day's play. Maybe today....
I'm not sure whether it's Internode's sell out that has triggered some change of thinking by residential buyers generally or something else but residential ADSL sales are currently running at almost double what they were at this time last year (the days between Christmas Eve and New Years day). The usual drop off in residential ADSL orders hasn't happened this year and it looks as though we will finish December an incredible 20% higher for the complete month than last year - something very strange has happened......I have no idea what that might be. So I spent most of yesterday trying to find out what may have changed on various competitors web sites but nothing seemed to be any different to what we saw before Christmas. While it is a very pleasant change it is still desirable to see what may have caused it.
Like all 'mysteries', once you begin to attempt to find out what may be causing them you get diverted bit by bit to looking at other related and the progressively unrelated things and before you realise it the day has disappeared and you didn't remember to turn on the television. However it was interesting to see what other providers are doing and its becoming apparent that the last three years have been as unkind to several other providers as they have to Exetel - at least from what I can make out. I don't play guessing games so I can't really spell out what I think I saw but it looks as though the price of an ADSL service (bundled with a real or fictional telephone line or standalone) has increased by around ten dollars a month over the past month or so. I will go back over the prices I noted down yesterday later this morning to verify that assessment but I'm pretty sure it's right.
Why this is the case, if in fact it is, is the interesting question. I put Internode's recent price increases down to simply increasing the value of the sell out - identical to the process and timing that Westnet and Netspace went through. Internode's web site pricing is labyrinthine at the best of times but recently it has become almost impossible to determine how services are priced and the nonsense of "Telstra Wholesale has recently raised prices" is sheer nonsense....unless TW has singled out Internode for special punishment or has recently withdrawn some special "Internode only discounts"....possible perhaps but unlikely. Looking at the prices of Telstra and Optus is always almost as complicated as looking at Internode's pricing and in those companies cases does not reflect their outbound selling 'promotional' offers - so it isn't very productive. TPG seem to have increased their prices but they are becoming a far less significant influence on the market - unless you're iinet of course who still seems to lose a lot of customers to TPG (as well as fearing they will be bought out).
Comparing current prices for the top few providers today to the prices of the same providers in early October gives the overall result I alluded to - the average price of an ADSL and real telephone line service has increased by almost exactly ten dollars in the 'mid range' ($60 has become $70) and a little less in the low range ($30 has become $37). Of course, the very foolish buyers, are still being offered bundled services in the $80 to $100 range but presumably those sort of sheep will always be shorn by the unscrupulous spivs of internet supply. So perhaps the simple explanation is that Exetel's prices are the lowest on the market and don't carry the taint of TPG/Dodo type under provisioning and dreadful 'support'.
I will try and raise the enthusiasm to go through these numbers again this morning to ensure I haven't made some basic errors.
Copyright © Exetel Pty Ltd 2011
ABN 350 979 865 46