While the plan is only marginally lower than the common rate of 25c per 30 seconds, the plan doesn't include a flagfall, making it competitive on short mobile calls with Hutchison's plan, which charges 15c per 30 seconds and a 25c flagfall.
"This is an offer that will be difficult for our competitors to replicate. AAPT is looking to shake up this market in a way Australia hasn't seen before by moving away from historically higher pre-paid pricing and actually putting the customer's needs first," said Brett Chenoweth, general manager of AAPT's consumer division.
The NZ Telecom subsidiary is not the first mobile company to offer pre-paid plans with no flagfall. Vodafone offered a similar deal until recently when it was forced to rescind the offer, claiming too many people were making extremely short phone calls instead of sending SMS, making the plans unsustainable. It will be interesting to see if AAPT fares any better.
australia has only some of the highest call rates in the world and practically no value added services. the telstra/optus duopoly ensures that the markets arent going to move by much anytime soon.
minnows like aapt and orange (inspite of all its efforts with 3) cant do much. and with vodafone australia being royally ignored by its european parents for more lucrative markets elsewhere, there doesnt seem to be anything that will help the price situation get in line with the rest of the world.
my tuppence.