Synopsis
In 2009 the communications market in Australia has been shaken up by the merger of the third and fourth largest mobile network operators, Vodafone and Hutchison Australia, to form VHA. If VHA is successful in the longer term the company may challenge both Optus and Telstra in an effort to become the largest mobile service provider in Australia. By 2010 they had become the largest mobile broadband operator.
Competition continues to intensify between mobile operators, resulting in lower mobile call charges for customers. So called bucket pricing is expected to arrive in 2010. In mid-2009 Woolworths launched a major new mobile virtual network providing low-cost prepaid services. Voice calls are increasingly moving onto the mobile networks at the expense of the fixed line networks and mobile broadband continues to grow rapidly. These trends are likely to continue beyond 2010 as mobile tariffs fall further and certain customers segments reduce their use of fixed-line voice and data services