Optus outs trial NBN pricing

Optus has backpedalled on its National Broadband Network pricing plans, unveiling a schedule of trial offerings between $39.99 and $129 for standalone broadband and bundled plans respectively.

The plans will come into effect from November 21 and offer base data quotas that, like iiNet’s NBN plans, could be configured to one of four speed tiers.

Optus joins providers including Internode, iiNet, iPrimus, Exetel and others who have announced trial pricing for users.

Though the major telco has trialled the fibre network at the first five mainland sites for months, it had initially joined Telstra in threatening to withhold any pricing under the trial agreement currently in place with service providers in hopes of spurring a final agreement with the wholesaler.

NBN Co has delayed a final agreement twice to date, extending its trial contract with providers until at least January and cutting the time frame of its final agreement to 12 months in hopes of encouraging agreement from reluctant providers.

Optus executives told a parliamentary hearing last month that it hoped to release final pricing before Christmas.

Optus’ NBN pricing comes on the back of the recent appointment of former Optus Country manager Anthony Shiner to director of fixed line and NBN products.

“We’ve decided to offer NBN plans on a monthly basis so consumer and ‘home office’ customers can start benefiting from true competition right away, with a much richer online experience,” Shiner said.

“As the NBN roll-out progresses, we’ll release a greater range of plans as well as more exciting broadband bundles that combine the latest Optus digital products such as Optus MeTV to help customers stay better connected and entertained.”

Optus has also begun trialling wholesale aggregation products, with iseek the first provider on-board.

Pricing

Optus NBN plans start at $39.99 for 40 GB of data, split evenly over peak and off-peak periods, with a 12/1 Mbps service but is only available when bundled with an existing post-paid mobile contract.

Pricier plans provide 25/5 Mbps speeds beginning at $59.99 for 120 GB of quota, $69.99 for 150 GB and $79.99 for 500 GB, all split over peak and off-peak periods.

Users will be able to upgrade their connection speed to 50/20 Mbps for an extra $10 a month or 100/40 Mbps speed for an extra $20.

All plans shape speeds to 256 Kbps once a user has exceeded their data quota.

The telco has also offered three bundled options beginning at $64.64 for 120 GB of data and $30 worth of local and Australian mobile calls.

A $109 Fusion plan provides 500 GB of data, while a $129 plan will provide a Terabyte of data. The Fusion plans provide unlimited national fixed line and mobile calls.