Optus announces NBN pricing as network pledges tailored services for SMEs

Optus has finally released its prices for its services available on the National Broadband Network, calming fears that access would be more expensive under the new network than services that are currently available.

The NBN also announced new services for businesses, saying it would be working with ISPs to ensure companies were provided specific offers tailored to their needs, which would include higher amounts of voice and data consumption.

Optus announced its prices this morning, with the majority of plans priced at $39.99 when put together with a post-paid mobile plan of at least $19 every month.

The $39.99 plans will come with 40GB of data, while $59.99, $69.99 and $79.99 standalone broadband plans have already been offered with 120GB of data, for the $59.99 plan, and 500GB for the $79.99 plan.

Packaged services are also available for customers that want to bundle broadband and home phones, with prices starting at $64 for 120GB of data, although $109 and $129 versions are available with 500GB and 1TB of data available.

Optus has also pledged all plans come with free hardware, with no installation fees. And to ensure a smooth transition, the company argues, it will use specialist installation teams on the ground.

The release of the prices comes after Internode, iiNet and other retailers have announced their own, which are broadly in line with Optus’ charges.

Telsyte senior research consultant Chris Coughlan says users can rest assured that they’ll be paying roughly the same amount of a superior service.

“Originally I thought the NBN would be priced at a premium compared to the ADSL market, but at the moment it seems to be lining up with comparable services,” he says.

“The only threat is when HFC services are handed over, but I think they’ll line up.”

Optus has chosen to release its prices before negotiating a wholesale deal with the NBN, but Coughlan says that shouldn’t affect prices too much and notes companies will be hesitant to raise prices after original services have already been promised.

“I don’t think they’ll do that. Because plenty of customers will want to be on contracts and will sign up, there’ll be a penalty to get out of that.”

The announcement also comes as the NBN said it would be dealing with RSPs to make sure they provide tailored services for businesses that may outstrip the constraints of consumer-focused plans.

The NBN said in a statement that, for example, many small design and production companies would need to send large files, but these would outstrip the constraints of other plans.

“Our aim with the new offerings is to allow telcos and service providers to design plans that cost-effectively add higher levels of services to suit a range of increasing needs,” said co-head of product development and industry relations, Jim Hassell.

The new product suite would provide pricing tiers to allow telcos to offer a wide range of plan, “to suit the individual needs of businesses of varying sizes”.

“In addition to high download speeds, one of the big advantages of the wholesale business grade NBN products for small business… is the availability of much higher upload speeds,” Hassell said.

The NBN will also offer more hours for servicing customers, saying this is an anticipation of business customers being open on weekends.