There’s now more choice for consistent and reliable mobile coverage, as a deal between Telstra’s biggest rivals will see their footprint expanded.
What happens when two mobile companies decide to work together to make both of their mobile coverage better? Consumers benefit.
That’s what’s happening from this week, as a deal between Optus and Vodafone announced back in September last year kicks in, and the two share mobile coverage across Australia.
The result will technically benefit both, as the network footprints and coverage are shared between each, though Vodafone will likely be the biggest winner out of the two, doubling its covering to more than one million square kilometres across Australia.
Before the deal, Vodafone offered coverage for 400,000 square kilometres, but this partnership sees the coverage expand greatly, and improves the range significantly, seeing a 168 percent increase across the entire country, with most of the footprint improvements found in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.
Simply put, it means Vodafone customers in rural Australia will get the benefit, with both Victoria and South Australia covered to nearly 100 percent by the boosts (99.6 percent for Victoria, 99.2 percent for South Australia).
“With Vodafone expanding across Australia, the days of having limited mobile choice in regional Australia are over,” said Kieren Cooney, Group Executive for Consumer, Data and Analytics at Vodafone.
“We believe this is the biggest boost to mobile competition in 30 years and will make a huge difference to how Vodafone customers connect, work,travel and play right across the country,” he said.
“Up and down the North and South Coasts of New South Wales, to Bundaberg in Queensland, Busselton in Western Australia, and thousands of other towns and suburbs stretched across this land, we are supercharging our network so Australians can get better coverage where they need it,” he said.
The network expansion kicks in immediately, with Vodafone chiming in with a few deals at the same time, including double data on select plans.
