Forum > Regional > Asia Pacific > Australians where are you?

On 2005-10-25 15:37:51, mattan wrote:
meh indeed. Bit of a rip-off at $1.69/song or $16.99+/album. Especially when you can buy CDs for ~$20.00 in 'original' quality with a nice booklet and without silly formats and DRM that limit you to using an iPod.

/rant

[ This Message was edited by: mattan on 2005-10-25 14:38 ]

Number two telecommunications provider Optus today unveiled its third-generation mobile service offerings, following bitter rivals Hutchison, Telstra and Vodafone into the high-speed arena.

Optus today officially launched services in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, the Brisbane central business district and airport, Adelaide airport and Perth airport. They are expected to be progressively offered to customers over the next two weeks.

The company said it would offer a mobile instant messaging service in partnership with the Microsoft/Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd venture ninemsn and a notebook datacard that allows roaming across GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

The messaging service is being offered free of charge until 1 February 2006, from when it will be charged at 95 cents unlimited use per day or AU$5.95 unlimited for a month.

The service is being launched with four capped plans ranging from AU$49 to AU$89 and five subsidised handsets, the Nokia N70, Nokia 6680, Samsung Z140, Samsung Z500 and Sony Ericsson K600i.

Optus' consumer managing director, Allen Lew, said the company would also offer a portal called MyZooNow whereby information would be updated and pushed to mobile handsets.

Optus and Vodafone finalised an agreement to build and operate a national 3G network on 19 November 2004. The initial build-out of more than 2,000 base stations covering the six major capital cities is scheduled for completion by March 2007, the companies said.

Vodafone unveiled its service on 31 October, following Telstra in September and Hutchison in April 2003.

On 2005-11-15 09:51:18, trogdor the burninator wrote:
awesome SE Z520i at techoni.com for 369

Hutchison Telecommunications will dump its Orange brand in favour of using its '3' label and proactively upgrade Orange customers to its new third-generation (3G) network.

"We are joining our Orange and 3 services under the single brand of 3, are proactively upgrading our customers to 3G, and from today, will exclusively sell 3G," said a statement from the company issued to the Australian Stock Exchange.

The company's chief executive Kevin Russell said the appetite for 3G services was growing in Australia.

"It is the future for delivering mobile services and in the next two to three years we will see its rapid adoption - fuelled by exciting multi-functional handsets and appealing information, entertainment and communication services," Russell said in the statement.

Hutchison said it expects a high take-up of its 3G offer, which will be available through "3" stores, by phone or on the web.

"The interest in upgrading will grow with today's launch of the first mass market Nokia 3G handset -- the 6280," Russell said.

The telco said more than 20,000 customers chose to upgrade to the new service in January following a targeted campaign.

Other 2G customers will be targeted with "attractive plans and subsidised handset pricing, which 3 will be able to cost effectively deliver due to its global buying power", the company said.

Hutchison will add sales and service support to meet the expected demand.

The company said it will review its ongoing operation of the CDMA network after a "significant proportion " of customers had converted to 3G.

It said it expected to complete the upgrade within the three-year timeframe for CDMA, indicated by Telstra, Australia's biggest telco.

"Customers want certainty now, so we would expect that upgrade process to complete well within that timeframe," Mr Russell said.