The ACCC has reported that Australian consumers are paying more for data. Well, I knew that, our NBN plan increased in price a few months back. In our case, inertia set in and we meekly accepted it.
We didn’t get any more in return for the increase, but in relation to mobile data the ACCC says that, “Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have moved towards a ‘more-for-more’ model in which they offer 50-100 per cent more data across their plans at a higher cost”.
An issue in this situation is whether consumers need the extra data and speeds they pay for. The report shows that in 2020-21 an average mobile consumer on a post-paid contract used only 11.8 GB of data per month, compared to a median data allowance of 35 GB per month.
I suspect that many of us don’t monitor how much data we use, so we tend to opt for “unlimited” plans “just to be sure”.
And expiry periods on pre-paid plans have been reduced in some cases, for example from 35 and 42 days to 28 days. This is a price increase by stealth.
The ACCC comments that it is concerned that since the merger of TPG and Vodafone in 2020 (which the ACCC opposed), consumers are paying more for mobile phone plans. With the market now heavily concentrated with just three players, prices on many popular plans have risen as price competition is muted.
On a different note, the ACCC reported that the volume of calls made from traditional phone lines decreased a further 13 per cent in 2020-21. People are definitely moving to “mobile only” services.
Musings and Mutterings 