Telstra’s phone plan overhaul will ditch international data roaming

Telstra’s phone plan overhaul will ditch international data roaming
By Christian Fleetwood


Telstra has announced its ditching data roaming, amid big changes to the telco’s overhaul of phone and internet plans.

This announcement comes as part of a wider move by the telco under its new Telstra T22 strategy that will see 8000 staff cut from Telstra’s workforce, as well as its number of core customer plans fall from around 1800 to 20, as the company moves in the direction of personalised packages.

The aim of T22 is reportedly to take $2.5 billion in costs out of the business by 2022, with Telstra CEO Andy Penn (featured image) claiming the company is on time and on track with its target and “highly confident of delivering it”.

Telstra also revealed it will remove international calls from its plans as part of the overhaul, while the company is set to phase-out international data roaming from its plans. These features will now be offered as extras.

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Customers travelling overseas will reportedly have to buy a $10 international day pass, offering 200MB of data and unlimited call and text in more than 70 select countries. The day pass costs $5 in New Zealand.

For those who exceed that 200MB allowance: you can pay $10 for an extra 500MB that must be used within 31 days. Telstra is also reportedly offering pay-as-you-go roaming for destinations where the international day pass isn’t available.

For an additional $10 per month customers can opt for unlimited international calls and texts from Australia to 21 countries.

Another big extra, coming July next year, is the option to purchase 5G access, which will set customers back another $15 per month. These changes to added extras reportedly allow customers to cater to their needs, month to month:

“This might mean increasing your data allowances around school holidays, adding a sport package for footy finals season, adding international data for that overseas holiday or, for our business customers, scaling their plan with the peaks and flows of their business,” the telco said in a statement.

The change in direction and rapid cost reduction has reportedly been welcomed by shareholders, with Telstra’s share price having risen from $2.66 this time last year to $3.88 on Tuesday.

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