Discount supermarket ALDI to offer cut-price mobile deals

Karen Collier
February 28, 2013
Herald Sun

DISCOUNT supermarket ALDI is set to shake up Australia’s mobile phone market by offering low-cost deals.

The supermarket will start selling pre-paid phone plans along with groceries in a move tipped to put pressure on big telcos Telstra and Optus.

The German grocery chain has offered cut-price calls, text and data in Europe for several years.

A consumer advocate said customers using low-cost mobile phone operators could potentially halve bills compared with contracts with big players.

ALDImobile, to be launched on Wednesday, will use part of Telstra’s 3G network.

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network spokeswoman Elise Davidson described the expansion as a “significant development”.

She said competition from emerging mobile phone operators such as Kogan Mobile, Amaysim and ALDI was good news for consumers.

“There are signs that competition is definitely heating up,” Ms Davidson said.

Woolworths Mobile already offers customers pre-paid recharge deals via the Optus network.

Ms Davidson said customers with their own handsets potentially could save substantially when switching to low-cost operators who supplied SIM cards, rather than being locked into contracts with big players.

Mobile phone customers on contracts commonly pay $50 to $70 a month.

“If you are off a contract and have your own handset outright, it can be a lot cheaper,” Ms Davidson said.

“You can end up paying half as much per month for the same or more value.”

Ms Davidson said the low-cost mobile phone service model, popular in Europe and Asia, appealed to customers who did not need to regularly upgrade handsets.

The ALDI move comes as Australians increasingly rely on mobile phones for communication.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission telecommunications report, released this week, revealed more time was spent making calls from mobile phones than fixed lines last financial year for the first time.

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