Telecom, Vodafone step up mobile data campaign

On the eve of a big profit and dividend announcement from Telecom, the company has escalated its battle with Vodafone for overseas mobile data customers.

Telecom yesterday announced a data-roaming agreement with Telstra in Australia that will allow its customers to use laptops with mobile broadband cards and Harrier PDA devices in main cities across the Tasman.

Not to be outdone, Vodafone said it was slashing the cost of its international mobile data access by two-thirds.

From Monday, the flat rate for casual users to data roam with wireless laptops and handheld devices on its networks will be $10 a megabyte, down from $30.

Vodafone said the price slash was not in response to Telecom's announcement. The timing was just dumb luck.

"We've known that Telecom has been doing stuff for months", but yesterday was the first Vodafone had heard about the actual launch, said data products marketing manager Fraser King. "Strangely enough, it is a coincidence."

Telecom's mobile general manager, Kevin Kenrick, said that although the move had been planned for some time, the pricing of it would indeed be affected by Vodafone's announcement. The service was originally going to be offered for $19.95 a megabyte, but the company was now rethinking that.

"We will make sure that no customer will be disadvantaged on price by being with us," Kenrick said, adding that a final price would be announced soon.

Analysts are nearly unanimous in their bullishness on the future of the mobile broadband market.