rtedussie online retailer Ruslan Kogan has bounced back from the disappointment of a failed Telstra offering a few years ago, declaring Kogan Mobile is “back and better than ever” in a new partnership with Vodafone.
Mr Kogan launched a range of cheap new prepaid plans yesterday, which start at $29.90 for 3GB of data and unlimited calls and texts, and run on Vodafone’s 3G network with full technical support from Vodafone.
The new entrant is expected to add to the pressure on major players including Telstra and Optus, both of which have been focused on maintaining margins in the wireless business.
The high-profile retailer told The Australian that his company’s last foray into the mobile space, which failed when provider ispONE’s contract with Telstra was cancelled, was “very upsetting” but that that disappointment drove him to sign a new deal that would cut out the middleman.
“At the time we had a lot of critics in the industry around Kogan’s prices but there’s only one critic I care about and that’s our customer,” he said. “We did everything right by the customer, we gave everyone a refund and the overwhelming feedback was people were still happy. We reflected on it and realised it wasn’t something we were willing to walk away from.”
He said the new deal with Vodafone was two years in the making, adding his company had “taken it slow” this time around and that they were here to stay.
Vodafone Australia chief Inaki Berroeta told The Australian that while initially Kogan’s plans will only use Vodafone’s 3G network, customers will be migrated to 4G in early 2016.
“These types of relationships are long-term,” he said. “It’s a partnership we really believe is going to work and we’ll be working on it at and looking at it every day.” He said he was extremely confident Vodafone’s infrastructure, which came under widespread criticism in 2011, would stand up despite another recent agreement recently signed with TPG that will see its customers migrated to Vodafone.
“We’re always looking at our network with a long time frame and every investment in the network is done based on projections in a few years. This is part of our plan,” he said. Our network investment is consistent with these positions, and this partnership is a big market opportunity. It’s something that compliments our strategy.”
Kogan Mobile’s 3XL offering comes with 3GB of data, unlimited national calls and texts for $29.90 for 30 days, or $299.90 for a full year, which works out to 83c a day.
The 5XL option meanwhile includes 5GB of data, unlimited national calls and texts for $36.90 for 30 days or $369.90 for a full year, or $1.02 per day.
Tablet users can buy a 2GB data pack for $14.90 for 30 days usage, while there are also 30, 90 and 365-day prepaid options on offer. Users can either bring their own device or set up the SIM with a device bought from Kogan.
Kogan Mobile customers can also earn one Qantas Point for every dollar spent.
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