Primus launches shaped mobile broadband

Primus Telecom has launched a mobile broadband service which will be speed-shaped once the data quota has been reached, instead of charging excess.

"Today's consumers want the freedom to be online at any time and the existing mobile broadband pricing packages have potential risk for excessive and unexpected download charges, often amounting to several hundred dollars in a month," Primus CEO Ravi Bhatia said in a statement.

When a customer reached the monthly data allowance, the connection would be rate shaped for the remainder of the monthly billing period to 64Kbps.

According to the Primus speedster site, practical speeds for the service will be 384Kbps to 3.6Mbps for HSDPA devices, 200Kbps to 384Kbps for 3G and 20Kbps to 40Kbps for 2G. Primus is offering 6GB for $39.95 per month with a free modem on a 24-month contract as a special offer for September.

"In our experience, 6GB of data allowance per month is more than sufficient for an average internet user," Andrew Sims, general manager products and marketing said in a statement.

The other prices, which will be going up live on the site this afternoon were $29.95 for 1GB, or $19.95 bundled with a mobile and $79.95 for 12GB, or $69.95 with a mobile.

If the customer wanted additional data, they could buy it using their account toolbox, Sims added. The product uses Optus' mobile network.

Primus needed to make some changes in order to introduce the shaping, Sims said, such as switching network layers. The company moved away from a complete resale of Optus products to channelling everything through its own network and doing a lot of the provisioning work itself, he said.

"We're less reliant on Optus," he concluded.

The service will be provided using the Huawei E220 modem, a spokesperson for the company said, which runs on 2,100MHz.

Although Optus also uses the 900MHz spectrum for parts of its network, which would preclude some regions from using the service. The spokesperson for Primus said that it understood the majority of the existing network was on 2,100MHz and that because sales were pre-qualified it wouldn't sell the product in areas serviced by the 900MHz spectrum.

When asked if there were plans to tap into both frequencies, the spokesperson said "there are solutions in the wings".