FINALLY! A SMART PLAN FOR YOUR SMARTPHONE

Optus hangs up on large excess charges with the launch of mobile My Plan

Consumers living in fear of the moment they tear open their mobile phone bill each month can now breathe a sigh of relief as Optus launches a range of new smarter mobile phone plans that deliver the assurance and honesty they have been waiting for.

Available from July 1, Optus My Plan will help protect consumers if they go over their plan limit each month, automatically moving them up to the next level, not only saving large excess charges but giving them the freedom to go beyond their plan inclusions when needed. And at the start of the following month, the customer reverts to their original plan level.

To make it even easier to understand exactly what’s included each month, plans will move to minute billing away from the confusing dollar value, ensuring customers know exactly what they’re getting. It’s the smarter plan for your smartphone.

Vicki Brady, Managing Director, Customer at Optus said, “How often have you been sitting around the table and heard a friend or family member complain about a huge and confusing phone bill?”

“Consumers often feel there are hidden traps in mobile plans and they don’t always have the flexibility to use their phones as they wish. So we are delivering Optus My Plan, genuinely new plans that offer actual fairness, flexibility and transparency.”

OPTUS MY PLAN IN A NUTSHELL

• Flexibility: now if consumers go over their voice or data limits in their billing month, they have assurance in knowing they will be moved up to the next level of their plan for that month, rather than getting large excess fees. The additional levels are just $10 for 200 extra minutes or 1GB of extra data on the $60 p/month plan.
• Simple billing: no more confusing dollar value as we tell customers exactly what they are getting each month in minutes.1
• Usage control: we provide SMS usage alerts that let our customers know how they’re tracking each month2 when they reach 50%, 85% and 100% of their plan inclusions. We’ve also added improved usage meters that customers can access anytime on their mobile via My Optus App or online via My Account so they know exactly where they stand.
• Unlimited SMS: unlimited standard national SMS and MMS every month to keep customers connected all the time.

LET’S PRETEND A CUSTOMER IS ON THE $60 MY OPTUS PLAN:

• If they use more minutes than the plan inclusions? If the customer uses more than 600 minutes they will automatically move to the next level where they will pay an extra $10 for an additional 200 minutes. Their bill will be $70. If they use more than 800 minutes, they’ll pay another $10 and be moved up another level to receive unlimited minutes for standard talk. Their bill will be $80.
• If they use more data than the plan inclusion? If the customer uses more than 1GB they will automatically move to the next level and pay an extra $10 for an additional 1GB. Their bill will be $70. If they use more than 2GB of data, they will continue to pay $10 for each 1GB level of data, up to an additional 20GB of data.
• If they use more minutes and more data than the plan inclusion? The customer uses more than 600 minutes and 1GB? They automatically move to the next level of minutes and data and get 800 minutes and 2GB of data. Their bill is $80.
• At the start of the next month the customer automatically moves back to their original plan.

Optus My Plan starts from $50 per month for 450 included minutes and 500MB of included data on a 24 month contract (min total cost $1200 over 24 months). Existing Optus customers can move to an equivalent My Plan without fees.4

More information can be found at www.optus.com.au/myplans from July 1 2013.

Claire Wong or Dianne Edwards
Optus Corporate Affairs
(02) 8082 7850

1. Minutes can be used for talk to standard Australian mobiles and landlines, 13/1300 numbers and voicemail retrievals all within Australia.
2. There may be delays of up to 48 hours for usage alerts.
3. If you use more than 20GB of additional data we may continue to charge you at the same rates or restrict your data use for the remainder of your billing month.
4. Customers on an existing Optus contract can move to My Plan on the same or a higher access fee with no additional charges. The existing contract term and remaining handset repayments will move with the plan.