2023年1月26日

TPG电信(TPG Telecom)终于开始效仿竞争对手澳大利亚电信(Telstra)和Optus，对纯sim移动套餐进行合理化调整，这给消费者的口袋带来了更大压力，其新价格上涨了逾13%。这家排名第三的电信公司本周将沃达丰在市场上的产品从5种减少到3种，并提高了价格。该公司正在竞争法庭上争取与澳大利亚电信达成的一项有争议的网络共享计划获得批准。分析人士称赞这一变化是该行业的积极发展。他们表示，TPG是最后一家开始提高价格以应对通胀的大型电信公司，这表明电信业的定价行为更加理性，这将有助于全面提高每用户收入。沃达丰表示，这些变化降低了其移动业务计划的复杂性。即便如此，此举仍将给本已紧张的家庭预算带来更大压力，这些家庭已经承受了一系列旨在遏制通胀的快速加息。澳大利亚统计局(Bureau of Statistics)周三公布，去年第四季度消费者价格飙升7.8%，创33年新高，降低了澳大利亚央行(Reserve Bank)下月再次上调现金利率的可能性。根据澳大利亚统计局的数据，同期电信成本上涨1.3%。沃达丰表示:“价格每月小幅上涨，是对通胀压力和经营成本上升的必要反应。”“这不是我们轻易做出的决定，(我们)将继续投资于我们的产品、服务和网络能力，以提供更好的客户体验。“这次更新只影响沃达丰的后付费计划，如果当前客户不做出改变，他们将继续使用现有的计划。”新的“小”套餐包括每月45美元的40GB数据流量(以前的套餐是每月40美元的40GB)，成本上涨了13%。 The cost of Vodafone’s “Medium” tier was steady at $55, but data allowances reduced from 200GB to 150GB. On a price-per-GB basis, this is about 30 per cent more expensive. Advertisement The “Large” plan is unchanged, costing $65 a month for 300GB. Vodafone has, however, discontinued the “X-Large” offering that cost $85 per month and gave customers unlimited data. Vodafone said the new pricing structure “reduces the number and complexity” of plans. It follows similar mobile pricing changes at Telstra and Optus last year. Telstra slugged users with a 4 to 5 per cent increase on their monthly mobile bills as part of a new inflation-based yearly pricing review in July. And Optus soon followed suit by raising prices by 10 per cent a few days later. UBS analyst Lucy Huang said the “reduction in data inclusions could incentivise customers to upgrade over time to higher priced plans should data usage increase”. She compared it to how Telstra simplified its plans from 1800 to 20 through its T22 strategy, which allowed it to “put in price changes easily”. Advertisement “TPG’s new plan structure is further evidence of rational pricing behaviour in the Australian mobile market,” Ms Huang said. “With the removal of the $40 price point ... all of TPG’s postpaid plans are priced above its underlying postpaid [average per-user revenue],” she said. “In addition, Vodafone’s pricing remains below that of Telstra and Optus, and with pressures on cost of living through inflation and higher interest rates, Vodafone may potentially take share if consumers seek value.” TPG shares are up 2.5 per cent since the start of 2023 to $4.96. Lucas Baird is a journalist based in The Australian Financial Review's Sydney office. Connect with Lucas on Twitter . Email Lucas at lucas.baird@afr.com Save