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News & Views - Archive! |
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Welcome to our News & Views archive section where we will keep you up to date with what�s going on
in the world of telecommunications.
If you�d like to republish any comments or quotes from News & Views,
you�re welcome to. We would however ask that you show the source reference of Phonechoice and include our URL
(www.phonechoice.com.au).
23 May 00 - Telstra’s CDMA service under pressure to do well
Sulinna Ong
From June 30, Telstra’s analog mobile network service will be unavailable as base stations will be switched off in preparation for the relaunch of its revamped $600 million CDMA service scheduled to begin in September this year. Telstra launched its CDMA service earlier this year but poor coverage (particular in regional areas) drew many criticisms from customers in the bush, forcing Telstra to advise customers to keep their old analog phones. In the upcoming months all eyes will be on Telstra as both customers and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) wait to see if its CDMA service is up to scratch this time around.
‘Telstra’s testing time’, Selina Mitchell, The Australian, 23/05/00, p 53.
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18 May 00 - Austar and C&W Optus deal
Sulinna Ong
Austar United Communications has signed a deal with Cable & Wireless Optus for GSM services. Austar is set to promote the new service from July this year.
‘Austar signs up with C&W Optus mobile’, Luke Collins, The Australian Financial Review, 18/05/00, p 27.top
17 May 00 - Phone faults to be repaired quicker
Sulinna Ong
Instead of the usual day long wait for phone repairs, phone companies will have to respond to requests within half a day (outlined as a 5 hour period) under the Customer Service Guarantee or a fine will be incurred.
‘Telstra to act’, The Daily Telegraph, 17/05/00, p 7.top
15 May 00 - Hands free kits safer
Sulinna Ong
In response to a recent study conducted earlier this year by Which? Magazine stating that hands free kits increased the danger of radiation rather than decreasing it, an independent UK report by SARTest claims the contrary. According to the new report hands free kits actually reduced exposure to mobile emissions by at least 80%.
‘UK SAR tests confirm hands-free kits reduce mobile phone emissions by at least 80%’, media release from the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), 11/05/00.top
10 May 00 - Olympics means more mobile calls
Sulinna Ong
The flood of people arriving in Sydney for the Olympics not only means extra traffic on the road but on the mobile networks as well as Telstra estimates that 80% of visitors will be using mobile phones. As a result, Telstra will improve its service to cope with triple the usual volume during the Olympic period.
‘Telstra to triple mobile capacity for Olympics’, Annabel Hepworth, The Australian Financial Review, 10/05/00, p 7.
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04 Apr 00 - How to charge for WAP?
Sulinna Ong
With all the recent hype about WAP and mobile phones, little has been said about how companies are actually going to generate revenue. This issue is currently one of the challenges faced by the telecommunications industry, which is considering options such as advertising.
‘It’s PC-free but someone must pay for the wireless Web’, Reuters, The Sydney Morning Herald, 04/04/00, p 3c.
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28 Feb 00 - A Changing Market
Lisa Pennell
Back in 1991, the Australian telecommunications industry had only a single player in the mobile arena – a government entity that had full control over it’s terms of service. Since the Federal Government mandated competition in mobiles in the same year, the monolith knew losing market share was not a question of “if” but more “how much”.
The slide seems to have taken on a new speed in recent months however with the analogue (AMPS) closure on January 1st 2000 seeing a net loss to Telstra of 240,000 subscribers in the December quarter. This left Telstra with a market share of only 49.9 per cent, down another 3.5 per cent, whilst Optus closed with 32.5 per cent and Vodafone 17.6 per cent. Interestingly enough, in the December half-year Optus won 125,000 more net new subscribers than Telstra although this figure is obviously affected by the AMPS network closure.
Telstra’s official word is that most of the lost AMPS customers were duplicate services for digital (GSM) customers and were sitting in drawers unused. This fact has apparently masked spectacular growth in new digital customers (both on the existing GSM network and the new CDMA freedom network) which Telstra says numbered 460,000 in the December quarter. The difficulty for Ziggy Switkowski (CEO of Telstra Corporation) and his team is in convincing the public that this is the case.
While Telstra’s share price has taken a beating in recent times, Optus shares have doubled in price since January. With Telstra’s huge size ($96 billion dollars with mobiles making up one third) compared to Optus ($24 billion dollars with mobiles making up half) it is clearly in Optus interests to add new subscribers, even if it means cutting margins. The effect of adding new subscribers is multiplied in the case of Optus while falling prices for Telstra means lowering profit on the fixed line market as well.
The measure of success in Australia is fairly crude with net new subscribers being the yardstick. Considering some networks often offer incentives for customers to take a new phone number and discard the old, hence becoming effectively a “new” customer, it is clear that, as always, statistics only serve the master who creates them.
The key to Optus’ success in the last two years has certainly hinged on a run of marketing and distribution alliance wins. There are now six different brand names (soon to be seven with the introduction of Richard Branson’s Virgin) all aimed at different demographics. While Telstra has maintained throughout that it would not resell under a different brand, even where a service provider has been involved, they have attempted to remain the all-rounder and are apparently not succeeding.
The competition has only just begun in real terms however. Within eighteen months, Australia will have moved from being a three-company mobile phone market to a six player one. Hutchison Telecommunications (using the Orange brand), One.Tel and AAPT are all rolling out their own national networks.
With recent and continuing spectrum auctions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth reaching $850 million, it seems certain that we will see some tough price competition in the coming months. This represents more than eight times the value reached in previous auctions and is indicative of the value seen in the Australian market. With the introduction of data services including WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), mobile communications will become an ever more essential part of daily life. And an ever more lucrative part of the telecommunications industry!
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