Australia - Analysis - Telecommunications Pricing

Synopsis

Telstra has been successful in maintaining its grip on the fixed market. It still reaps 75% of its profitable revenues from access and voice services. However, voice has become a commodity service and is now under threat from resale competition, VoIP and mobile substitution. In reaction to that, Telstra has been rebalancing its services and significantly increased its line rentals. Price caps, bundling and soon triple play will have a massive effect on the pricing of new telecoms services. By 2008, the larger retail service providers such as Telstra, Optus and AAPT, already had adopted a bundling strategy with fixed-line voice, mobile and broadband, as well as introducing capped or bucket plans for fixed-line services. The spread of VoIP, in conjunction with DSLAM rollouts, is a development that could make some inroads into Telstra’s stranglehold on the local access market.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Fixed and mobile telephone is converging
• 3. Market surveys – fixed line voice
  • 3.1 Fixed line voice trends
    • 3.1.1 Rebalancing of PSTN access against calling products
  • 3.2 NUS analysis of telephone call charges – 2007
• 4. Mobile pricing trends
  • 4.1 Analysis of price changes for mobile services
    • 4.1.1 Introduction
    • 4.1.2 Improvements in handset technology
    • 4.1.3 Falling connection charges
    • 4.1.4 Exit fees
    • 4.1.5 Minimum spend plans
• 5. VoIP – trends and analysis
  • 5.1 VoIP – a case of evolution rather than revolution
  • 5.2 VoIP has potential to drive voice prices down further
• 6. Broadband price trends
  • 6.1 IIA Quarterly Broadband index – introduction
  • 6.2 trends and analysis
• 7. Other trends and developments
  • 7.1 Key trends
  • 7.2 The complex price plans of a commodity
  • 7.3 Fixed line operators - bucket plans
  • 7.4 Bundling voice, mobile and broadband
  • 7.5 Flag falls, distance and time
  • 7.6 Patterns in comodity price developments
  • 7.7 Australians in no hurry to substitute phone lines
  • 7.8 Triple play allows for lower unit costs
  • 7.9 Telecoms are missing out on discretional income
  • 7.10 Internet elasticity
  • 7.11 Price restructuring and tariff rebalancing
    • 7.11.1 International call market
    • 7.11.2 National rebalancing
• 8. Related reports

• Table 1 – Predictions and reality on prices – 2000 - 2006