We know Vodafone is putting the finishing touches on the first phase of its 4G network, but details have today trickled out from the CEO about when you can get it and more importantly, where you can get it.
Vodafone’s CEO Bill Morrow has told journos this afternoon that users will be able to get access to 4G services from June. Staff are trialling the service right now to iron out any issues.
As far as where you can get the 4G service is concerned, CEO Morrow said that the five — presumably mainland (sorry Tasmania) — capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane.
No word on price just yet, but it presumably it’s not going to cost extra. If so, Vodafone would be the first telco in Australia to charge a premium for 4G.
Interestingly, Morrow reaffirmed that the company isn’t about to start dropping its plans to bargain basement prices to chase customers:
“The right value doesn’t always mean the cheapest.”
What’s more interesting, however, is Morrow’s personal prediction about the future of mobile data pricing in Australia:
Data at the rates that it’s growing today and the applications using more and more data, will force the industry into a pricing structural change. If you look at places with high broadband shifts, you see prices go up. Tiered structures come in.
[For example], if you want to buy video subscription services, that’s [might be] allowed in one price plan and not another. We’re going to see more of that in the mobile telco space going forward.