Tuesday, March 3. 2009Telstra Forced To Slash Its HSPA Pricing?.........John Linton .....in the mealy mouthed way now common to Telstra...(long contract with "half price for first N months) aimed at the dumber buyers. I seldom watch commercial television so I seldom see any current ads let alone Telco ads (has iinet stopped using that insulting Irish moron yet?) but saw an ad last night for what seemed to be a Telstra offer of unlimited HSPA for "half price" ($49.95) for 12 months (it may have been 10 gb.......I was only half listening at the beginning). Three things crossed my mind: 1) Telstra's HSPA sales must have "hit the wall" 2) A really unlimited HSPA plan at $50.00 a month can't be that far off 3) The 'early adopter' phase of HSPA may have ended Now I realise that no Telstra broad band offering will be "unlimited" (just as no sensible provider will ever offer an unlimited plan) but I wasn't paying attention to the ad until it was too late to register the real detail but it doesn't matter as the salient point was the desperation apparent in any offer that involves cutting an apparently previously obtainable price so drastically - even if it was only a 'pretend cut' specifically designed to mislead the stupider buyer. However, Telstra has obviously got a much larger HSPA share than everyone else put together and also has far higher prices than every one else. Based on what I see and know about the UK HSPA markets and cost prices and the volumes of users, Australia's combined HSPA usrs are less than one fifth of those in the UK and the market there is more mature and more competitive. There are no, as far as I can see, "unlimited plans" in the UK but the 'average' HSPA plan is around half the cost of the realistic Vodafone and Optus plans. So clearly there is a lot of scope for Telstra to reduce its HSPA pricing, if it has to, and still make its huge margins. We have hesitated in 're-looking' at how we would market HSPA from March 1st onwards and actually pushed back the original decision to more 'aggressively' push the HSPA service while waiting for the new initiatives from the carriers which, until last night, I haven't seen yet unless I'm looking in all the wrong places (there was a very old game that used that tag line I seem to remember). I doubt that Telstra's new initiative will 'change the landscape' in any significant way (personally I think it's a recognition by Telstra that they can't charge $100.00 a month for HSPA any more) and I think that $A50.00 is not, at the moment, going to address a large percentage of the (non-Telstra) HSPA buyers in Australia. However that price point might be useful to Exetel as we don't have ambitions to sell the volumes the carriers are aiming at and we do want to address the two markets we believe we can provide the best solutions to. So the key question is how do we use our 'mad money' most effectively to promote a $A50.00 a month HSPA service (realising that the 'sweet spot' for an HSPA broadband service is $A40.00 a month)? Or is that just a waste of incredibly scarce time and money? We have been considering different ideas for a while now and nothing really useful comes to mind given the constraints of our current costs. It seems boring, and deceitful, to make these "half price" offers becoming so beloved by both Telstra and Optus or their convoluted "six months free" or "every month with a public holiday in it free" or whatever lunacy the next "special offer" will include. Perhaps Exetel has to become a "modern marketer" and prey on the stupid/gullible/innumerate but I doubt whether I could ever bring myself to treat the more intellectually challenged of the Australian population with that level of contempt. We have to make a decision this week and our options are currently limited. One of our original ideas, and my personal favourite, of offering rural users a 'free' Yagi aerial and cable kit has been blown out of the water by delays in sourcing the required hardware. I suppose we could still go with that sourcing aerials at their ridiculous local prices but the economics are very iffy. That particular idea appealed to me because I am very 'fond' of rural Australia and it seemed to me to be the most truly effective use of a promotion - to help people who really needed help and to assist Exetel's rural agents in a very tangible way. Maybe I've run out of the required 'creativity' to deliver true innovations - it had to happen some time. The best I can come up with is two new plans:
and A 10 gb plan at $57.50 per month to add to the current 5 gb plan at $37.50 per month. I would like to be more imaginative but I seem to have lost that 'touch'. Trackbacks
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Probably not a comment for public consumption but
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1153712 PennySim is an interesting deal if you arn't aware of it. Not sure if they are offering Static IP etc... PS. Love the blog! And HSPA!! Comment (1)
I've always liked country Australia much better than I've ever liked city Australia.
Comments (4)
JL,
This might be a little off topic - but it still seems as though HSPA is used for those "on the move". I know we recently added an Exetel low usage HSPA for when we are away, but have no intention of cancelling the ADSL2+ connection at home. Is there a device that Exetel might be able to sell / included, that would connect the USB modem and share it like the ADSL modem/routers that are most common? If so, that would be another chink in the fixed-line market, and would assist in steering potential ADSL home users to HSPA. Comment (1)
We have been looking for that magic box for over a year.
we are getting closer. Comments (4)
Perhaps something like the Billion 7402-X series.
Does both ADSL connections, and 3G via a USB port on the back. http://au.billion.com/product/3g/bipac7402x.php Comments (2)
Why no interest in PIPE's new international cable?
Comment (1)
good work John- HSPA $57.50 for 10GB pm -- i like it .
when i return to exetel thats the plan for me. Comments (2)
everyone one in Sydeny loves the bush, they just don't want to see it!
I can't see telstra changing anything, they have 1M+ users on nextG with best network for the iphone. they are price setters, price takers react. Comment (1)
We have been interested in it since it was announced but for a long time no pricing was avaialble and still no pricing is available - apart from no delivery being available.
We were also a bit taken aback at Pipe's financial problems at the en of last year/beginning of this year. We have, yet again, asked for pricing but all we get is "what is our target price" nonsense which we intensely dislike. We expect suppliers to offer us the lowest prices they are happy to sell to us at - not see how much they can rip us off for. Comments (4)
Agreed I've already emailed all my current HSPA users as I know one or two of them who'll be glad. (Outback families with teenagers...)
Thanks also for the agent iFrames - I've integrated the HSPA ones into my site, and added ?agent_code=N040 to the URL so it works very well now. I did a bit of a scan of Telstra's websites but there's nothing out of the ordinary that I can see re. pricing. Whingepool is quiet too. Are you sure it was a Telstra ad? Cheers, Mike. Comments (2)
You might like to share your iFrames experience on the Agent Forum.
Telstra is offering 10 gb plans at half price with "unlimited" downloads after that via shaping. Comments (4)
"A 2 gb plan at $$22.50 per month"
This sounds great but the clincher will be the cost for excess data. 5 cents per MB is a too high for an ADSL replacement. Comment (1)
Yes, that's an issue on all the fixed amount plans in my opinion. I'd prefer a 'slow em down' or a 'disconnect at limit' option.
I have also encountered an issue with the "Net Usage Item" firefox addin in that it only registers usage after a session ends; which is a problem for customers with HSPA routers that never hang up. Comments (2)
you need to know where to look in the pool http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1153506
Comment (1)
The Billion routers require a seperate 3G modem to be attached via the USB port.
Exetel's magic box would have the 3G modem built in and all that would need to be added was the 3G data SIM. Comment (1)
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