We're making some changes to our mobile pricing this year, here's why

What's changing?

In the coming weeks, we’ll be changing the prices of our mobile postpaid and pre-paid plans, as well as pre-paid mobile broadband services.

The price for most plans will increase between $2 and $4 a month. 

Prices won't be changing straight away, however. These changes will take effect from 27 August 2024 for postpaid customers and 22 October 2024 for our pre-paid customers.

The price of the postpaid Starter Plan will remain unchanged and from 27 August, the data allowance increases from 2GB per month to 5GB per month (for use in Australia). That means more value for the same price. 

Additionally, we will be removing speed caps on the Starter Plan and Basic Plan, so you can get uncapped 4G and 5G speeds (within your data allowance) for use in Australia no matter which in-market post-paid plan you're on.

For postpaid mobile broadband, our Large Data Plan also won’t be available to purchase on and from 27 August 2024, but existing customers can remain on this plan until further notice.

Check out the table below to see how the pricing structure for our post-paid and pre-paid services are changing.

Why are we changing some of our prices?

In May 2024, we let our postpaid mobile customers know that we were moving away from our CPI-linked annual pricing review.

This change simplified our pricing approach to be more consistent across our products and services, and also reflected there are a range of factors that go into any pricing decision.

It takes a lot of work and cost to run a mobile network as large as ours, and even more to support the increased usage we have seen on our network. 

The investments we make in our mobile network don't just help to keep your phone connected to your favourite content and apps. We know those are important, but our network does so much more every single day. 

Our connectivity is at the heart of the way Australia works and lives, supporting everything from major transport networks that get you from A to B, through to payment services for major banks and retailers, and even critical infrastructure that helps keep us safe everyday.

These price changes help us to keep investing in mobile coverage, performance and local support, as well as ongoing investments to improve the security of our services.  We monitor our network 24/7 to help protect against scams by blocking malicious calls and texts from reaching you.

Changing our prices is always a difficult decision, especially in the current climate. But if you look at the broader context around pricing, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that telecommunications pricing, which covers all telecommunications equipment and services beyond just mobile price, have not increased for consumers anywhere near the rate of other consumer household goods and services over the last decade. In fact, according to this data in eight of the last 10 years, those prices have actually deflated.

Check out the graph below, based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which shows a comparison between how pricing has changed for other goods and services compared to telecommunications equipment and services.

What if I need help?

We have support available for those who need it as we know some are doing it tough, and we're conscious of the impact on our customers.  There are lots of ways to reach us if you need to talk about your service.

For any of our customers who need payment support

We have a range of options to help postpaid customers who need payment assistance, including giving more time to pay, a tailored payment plan, and reviewing accounts to see if the customer might benefit from moving to a more affordable plan or product, or removing any services or features not needed. In some cases, we will also consider waiving some of your fees or charges, discounting a charge or applying a credit on your account.

For our pre-paid customers we can support with recharges for their service.

We are also offering a few additional measures for our pre-paid and postpaid customers.

For postpaid customers who need support

The price of our postpaid Starter Plan will remain the same, and from 27 August 2024 we will increase the data allowance from 2GB to 5GB (for use in Australia). 

For our concession customers with a valid Health Care card, Pension Concession card, or Department of Veteran’s Affairs gold card, we will also retain our $19/mth discount on the Starter Plan. 

This means our concession customers on the Starter Plan will get more value, for the same price. 

For pre-paid customers who need support

For our pre-paid customers, from 22 October the Telstra Top Up program is increasing its free pre-paid recharge from $160 to $180 with 70GB of data (valid for six months), to ensure customers needing financial assistance get the same amount of value. 

Customers will now also be able to access the Top Up directly from us as well as through community partners using InfoXchange’s case management system, with the program available to 30,000 customers.

We have a wide range of plans that give our customers choice and flexibility in deciding on the best option for their circumstances – postpaid, pre-paid, and Belong – and we can help our customers understand which option is right for them.

Importantly, our month-to-month plans with no lock-in contracts give our customers the flexibility to move between plans.

In FY23, Telstra supported over 1 million customers in vulnerable circumstances to stay connected and contributed over $90 million in value through our social and community investment programs, including Telstra Top-Up; the School Student Broadband Initiative and our ongoing payment assistance program.