In today’s Australian IT, among the regular doom and gloom that the current global financial situation is forcing journalists to write about, was news that Woolworths are planning on launching an MVNO off the back of Optus’ mobile network. Much like the current arrangement between Crazy Johns and Vodafone (or Virgin Mobile and Optus, even), the Woolies network would use Optus’ infrastructure, while they look after the customer relationships and billing side of things themselves.Michael Sainsbury and Mitchell Bingemann reckon that the MVNO will operate similarly to Tesco’s network in the UK, where the supermarket chain offers discount handsets and topping up your prepaid when you spend a heap of cash on your regular groceries.
The move is probably a very smart one – playing to the working family market who just need a cheap extra phone for emergency phone calls – but the question remains… Will Optus’ already overworked networks be able to handle the extra strain?
Mot
February 3, 2009 at 2:47 PM
I used Tesco’s network when I was in London and it was great value. It’d be interesting to see if Woolies can produce something as competitive as Virgin’s 10c per minute Bean Counter offer.
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September 28, 2009 at 2:55 PM
At the end of the day, us consumers want value. If Woolies can offer a service that provides both a good service and value for money they should do well. It would be very disappointing if they go down the same path as a telco like Three and outsource their customer service team to an overseas mob. If Woolies can offer these things, I’ll be the first to sign up!!! Remember… VALUE for MONEY!!!
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