Data-hungry customers at Virgin Mobile will soon feel less pain for going over their monthly limit.
The telco announced today that it will drop its excess data rate by 15.3 cents to 5.2 cents per MB. Customers will continue to pay per KB for the data they use, unlike some other telcos that round up to the nearest MB.
The new rate adds up to $52 per GB, a $153 reduction on that basis from the previous excess rate.
However, the fee cut still leaves Virgin Mobile as just the third cheapest telco out there on excess charges, according to WhistleOut.
“Optus’ excellent excess usage tiers are still best value, while Vodafone’s 10c per MB rate earns it the wooden spoon,” the telco comparison site reported.
Virgin Mobile director of proposition and strategy, Derek Cummins, said the change responds to customers’ increasing demand for mobile data and their frustration with higher-than-expected bills.
“By lowering our excess data rate for all our customers it will help avoid ‘bill shock’ and make a substantial difference when encountering excess data usage,” said Derek Cummins, Virgin Mobile director of proposition and strategy.
Telsyte has reported that bill shock was a major reason that nearly half of Australians have switched mobile providers during the last three years.
Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of dystopian sci-fi novels We, The Watched and Divided We Fall. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam
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