A new low-cost mobile service being offered by Telstra subsidiary Belong looks set to shake up the Australian mobile market, according to a Roy Morgan Research report.
The report says an estimated 170,000 Australians aged 14 and over already use the existing Belong fixed broadband service. “These customers are a natural first target for the new mobile phone service – deeper analysis of these customers shows 33 percent currently have their mobile phone service with Vodafone,” Morgan says.
“In their first four years Belong broadband has clearly signed up a disproportionate number of Vodafone mobile customers (33pc). Vodafone’s share of the wider mobile market is only 17pc.”
Adds Morgan CEO Michele Levine: “Roy Morgan’s deep profiling of the estimated 170,000 Belong fixed broadband customers show they are ‘switchers’ and particularly [look] to get a better deal at cheaper rates …
“Belong’s mobile service plans are designed to appeal to cost-conscious consumers by offering unlimited “data banking” – in which any unused data from their 5GB or 15GB month-to-month data plans can be rolled over into the following month – and “data gifting” which allows Belong customers to give their unused data to other Belong mobile users …
“These findings suggest rival mobile service provider Vodafone – which has a disproportionately high share of Belong fixed broadband customers and also has a customer base who are drawn to cheaper rates – has the most to worry about from Belong’s new mobile service.
