Telstra has announced price hikes to post-paid and pre-paid mobile plans only months after vowing to not make CPI-linked price hikes.
The telco announced the changes on Tuesday, with the increase to range from $2 to $4 starting from August 27 for post-paid customers and October 22 for pre-paid customers.
Telstra Group Executive Brad Whitcomb said in a statement the move was for “a number of reasons” such as to keep “investing in the performance, reliability and security of Australia’s largest mobile network”.
“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,” he said.
However, customers were quick to condemn the decision especially after Telstra promised not to increase rates at the rate of CPI.
“Nothing but GREED,” said one on Facebook.
“I dumped Telstra, absolute rip off and there (sic) app was a nightmare to navigate,” another said.
One disgruntled ex-customer said: “Just left them and disconnected land line”.
On X, customers blamed the telco for contributing to inflation with one saying, “Thanks very much @Telstra for the price rises that will contribute to CPI remaining sticky. Between you and the insurance companies, doing your bit to keep interest rates higher for longer.”
Another posted: “Telstra lifts prices amid cost-of-living crunch , this in my view is why inflation is out of hand providers like Telstra etc keep hiking the price of their goods and services most of which are essential leaving the workers no option.”
In May, Telstra said there would not be annual CPI-linked prices rises come July.
“We will not be making a CPI-linked annual price change to post-paid mobile prices in July 2024,” CEO Vicki Brady had said.
“We will continue to review our pricing and any changes will be communicated to customers in a timely and transparent way,” she said.
The company is set to charge $65 a month for its Basic Plan, which includes 50GB of data – going up from $62.
The Essential Plan, which provides 180GB of data, will be increased to $75 from $72 while the Premium Plan with 300GB will go up to $99 from $95.
Additionally the Bundle Plan with 25GB of data will increase to $52 from $50.
Further, the Telstra Top Up program is set to increase its free prepaid recharge to $180 from $160 with 70GB of data.
In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Whitcomb said changing prices was “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,” he said.
He included data showing that in eight of the last 10 years, the 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,” he said.