CANBERRA: From April 9, Telstra has all set to announce new packages and bundles for its customers from April 9, 2015. Telstra announced that it will double its downloadable data allowance for its mobile phone users and also offering a free subscription for Foxtel Presto streaming video service.
Telstra will increase the data allowances on its Mobile Accelerate BYO and Casual Plans, handing out bonus data inclusions ranging between 500MB and 7GB per month for the life of their contract use in Australia.
Customers on Telstra’s most expensive plan, which costs $130 per month, will receive an extra seven gigabytes of data — bringing the total to 10GB per month — while users on a $95 per month plan will be given 6GB of extra data compared.
Customers on Telstra’s lower-end plans will be granted a data boost of 500MB on a $55-a-month plan and an extra 1GB on a $70-a-month plan.
The moves to increase the data allowance on its mobile phone plans will help Telstra protect the grip it holds on the lucrative mobile sector.
Telstra is streaks ahead of its competition in the mobile space with more than 16 million subscribers compared to 9.4 million at Optus and 5.3 million at Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
Telstra’s mobile division is on track to bring in more than $10 billion in revenue this financial year after it raked in $5.3 billion for the six months to December 31.
But the telco giant is increasingly coming under pressure from its rivals Optus and Vodafone, which have improved the quality of their mobile networks and cut-costs to be more competitive.
Telstra is also ramping up its defence against online streaming giant Netflix with the announcement that customers taking up new mobile plans will receive a bonus six-month Presto subscription. Presto is a streaming video service co-owned by Seven and Foxtel (50 per cent owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian).
The offer of a six-month Presto subscription comes just a week after Telstra confirmed a six-month bonus subscription and unmetered access to Presto for its T-Box customers.
The latest salvo in the intense competition for the streaming video on demand dollar comes just a week after the launch of US internet giant Netflix’s Australian service tomorrow.
Optus has sided with Netflix in that battle and signed a partnership that will see its customers receive a free six-month subscription to the popular streaming service.
