SYDNEY: Australian mobile phone providers should follow in the footsteps of their US counterparts and allow customers to roll their unused mobile internet data into the next month’s billing, consumer groups say.
Consumer groups CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network both say the introduction of so-called “data stashing” and rollover services, introduced by US telcos T-Mobile and AT&T in December and January, should be introduced here.
While AT&T’s plan allows unused data to be carried over for only one month, T-Mobile allows the rolled-over data to be stashed for up to a year.
“Many Australian consumers would welcome a mobile plan that rolls over data allowances,” Erin Turner, of consumer group CHOICE, said. “It would give them more value for money.”
Turner added that she hoped Australian telcos would develop more innovative plans “rather than the limited offerings currently available”.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the peak body that represents consumers on communications issues, said it too would like to see rollover services offered here.
“Telcos should respond to consumer demands and allow for data to be rolled over,” an ACCAN spokesman said.
Research by ACCAN, CHOICE and the Consumer Action Law Centre last year found more than 50 per cent of mobile phone customers with an included allowance were not using their full monthly call, text or data quota.
“This amounts to the telcos getting a big free kick from consumers, who are paying for included value that never gets used,” ACCAN’s spokesman said of the research.
“With mobile data consumption likely to rise, allowing for unused data to be rolled over would benefit many.
“It would be particularly useful for consumers who spend extended periods of time overseas as they could accumulate the data they are paying for and use it when they return to Australia.”
Telstra told Fairfax Media it had no plans to introduce a rollover service “at this stage” but said that it was “always looking at ways to improve value for customers”.
Vodafone didn’t say whether it had any plans to introduce a rollover service.
“While we can’t say too much just yet; we have big plans for 2015,” Stephen Smyth, general manager of postpaid products at Vodafone, said.
Optus would also not be drawn into whether it would consider rolling over customer data.
“We constantly listen to feedback from our customers and are always open to making our plans even better,” a spokeswoman said.
While Virgin Mobile offers to roll over any unused talk and text to the following month, it says this doesn’t include data.
“Data does not roll over. Only your included talk and text credit rolls over to the next month,” it says.
Joseph Hanlon, editor of comparison website WhistleOut, which Fairfax Media partners with, said rollover data was a “great idea” for consumers.
When you consider that many telco plans offer unlimited calls and messages these days, Hanlon said data was the key differentiator for plans, especially when you spend $50 or more on your phone bill each month.
Despite some suggestions in the US that rollover plans would make it a little harder to compare plans, Hanlon said this wouldn’t be the case.
“I can’t imagine that incorporating rollover data into plans would make them much more complex to compare — they are mindbogglingly complex as it stands,” he said.
“More than anything, I think it would be a show of good faith on the part of any telco who adds rollover data to existing plans this year, a way of saying that they understand that mobile data is expensive and that they are giving us every opportunity to use the data that we are already paying for.”
Foad Fadaghi, a telco analyst at Telsyte, said market conditions in the US were driving aggressive behaviour that resulted in the introduction of rollover services there. Similar moves could happen here this year, he said.
“I think in Australia we could see more of that if competition kind of heats up over the next 12 months,” Fadaghi said. “However, what the carriers are doing is they are looking at larger data packs or looking at bonus packs for people signing on to try and sort of attract people.”
Fadaghi added that Telsyte research showed customers were getting better at understanding their data usage because of the apps being introduced by the telcos to help them keep track.
This was leading to customers being more liberal with their usage in the latter part of their monthly allowance, he said.
