KEY POINTS:
The mobile data market is really taking off in Australia.
3 Mobile (Hutchison) in particular is miles ahead in terms of value for gigabytes with its new pricing ? a 1GB data cap for A$15, 3GB for A$29 and 6GB for A$49.
The service is delivered over 3's HSPA mobile data network ? either to a compatible handset or a USB modem (the exact same devices as Vodafone's Vodem which sells here).
If you don't have a 3 mobile that handles HSPA, you'll need to pay $5 a month for the USB modem over the 24 month term of the contract.
Vodafone Australia read the signs right back in November when it introduced a 5GB data plan for A$39 a month with free data card or modem on a 24 month contract.
Telstra on the other hand is dragging the chain charging A$79.95 for a 1GB plan, according to The Australian. Telstra seems to have buried its mobile data plans so well on its website I was only able to find the low-use and pay-as-you-go plans.
Unless it matches the pricing of its rivals, Telstra may find the gains it has made with its Next G mobile broadband service start to slip away.
How do we compare here? Well, there's been progress, but the general downward pressure on mobile data pricing around the world means the charges of Telecom and Vodafone didn't stay competitive for long.
You're looking at $49.95 for a 1GB cap with Vodafone on a 24 month plan, $69.95 on a 3GB plan. On Telecom you'll get 1GB for $49.95 on a 24 month contract with free modem. You pay an extra $10 for each gigabyte thereafter.
It would be nice if Telecom leveraged its stake in Hutchison to mirror the pricing here when it launches its own high-speed HSPA service in the main centres in November. But Telecom's mobile boss Martin Butler has ruled that out - Telecom isn't going to copy 3 Mobile on pricing, plans or business strategy.
As for Vodafone, its aggressiveness in the mobile data market has to be tempered by its increasingly large footprint in the fixed-line broadband world. After all, when you start getting parity between fixed-line broadband and mobile broadband plans its tempting to replace the former with the latter and go mobile-only.
That was the scenario Vodafone was talking up a few years ago before it changed tack, realising a mobile-only play wasn't realistic. Now the last thing it wants is people ditching their phone lines and DSL accounts. It wants to sell you those and mobile broadband!
What would the price per gigabyte have to be to make you consider going all mobile? Are call charges still too high to make it a realistic scenario? Are mobile data services reliable enough to handle all your communication needs?
