If everything suddenly feels a little more costly at the moment, it could be because it is. Everything is rising in price, and depending on which telco you use, that may translate to higher costs, as well.
That may seem like a bit of frustrating regularity, but it’s one we first saw from Telstra and its smaller operators on the same network recently, covering both Belong and Boost. Now it seems as though the price hike is also coming to other telcos, meaning the ones not owned by Telstra.
Optus looks set to raise prices by $5 per plan, increasing the data at the same time, meaning its lowest post-paid plan will be $60 per month from from May 18, up from $55 per month. There’s no press release or news specifically citing why, but a good guess would be cost increases elsewhere, and the same reason every other telco is using: maintenance of the network and keeping the standard of the mobile network up.
It’s a similar story with Vodafone’s prepaid plans, which will actually see the cost of plans go up $5 from April 15, a month before the Optus changes, but only on prepaid.
There’s no word on whether that will happen for the regular SIM-only postpaid Vodafone plans just yet, but given it’s happening to one set, you can probably expect other plan increases and price hikes won’t be too far behind. That likely means your mobile connection could cost more very soon, though it’s also entirely possible that it won’t.
When Telstra noted its price rises were on the way, a representative for the company told Pickr that the smaller mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) weren’t impacted because they “set their own pricing”.
Long term, that means shopping around could keep your prices down, especially if a smaller operator keeps their prices the same. That’s entirely possible, though with all three majors bumping the costs, it mightn’t be too long before every telco, big or small, tries that move.
