Techanist is reporting that both VHA (Voda+Three) and Virgin will be launching the LG Optimus on $19 caps, with stock expected to hit stores later this week. That’s $30 less than Telstra, and dead even with Optus who are also selling it at $279 (via Allphones).
Virgin’s cap will include $50 cap credit, 50MB data and free calls to other Virgin mobiles.
VHA’s cap will include $70 cap credit, no data and $70 worth of VHA to VHA calls.
Optus’s current plan includes $70 cap credit, 100MB data as well as free Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, eBay etc..
With these carriers vying for your business at $19/mo, we can hope to see Telstra slip their price down in the future. If you’re interested in the Optimus, check out our review.
Source: Techanist.
I think the Optimus reveals the weakness in Telstra’s cap structure, i.e. their lack of a price point below $49/mo. Pretty much every other operator has at least a $29 cap, and many have a $19 cap as well, which gives them flexibility to sell their lower-quality phones at bargain-basement prices. How does Telstra intend to move the Optimus when it’s the same price as the Desire, which is a far better phone in every respect? I assume they’ll fix this when they release the HTC Wildfire later this month. They’ve said it will be cheaper than the Desire –… Read more »
It will be interesting to see what Telstra do, considering they had this first yet still tried to screw their customers over by overcharging for it when there was no competition.
Telstra do have a $29cap they just don’t promote it but it’s not good value i think you can get optimus $5 on a $29cap which is still a rip-off.
I bet the Wildfire will come pre-paid around $349 from what i’m hearing.