Vodafone launches mobile/landline/broadband bundles

Mobile-landline bundles with broadband thrown in, and cheaper 3G mobile phones are what Vodafone is banking on to win customers in an increasingly competitive telco market.

Vodafone will today start to sell packages that include mobile phone plans combined with a landline and "free" DSL broadband, with 1GB a month data allowance.

Customers can pick any You Choose mobile phone plan, add a landline connection for $41 a month, with the broadband thrown in, with Vodafone promising a $30/month saving for the lot.

Previously, Vodafone didn't have the mobile phone bundled for its landline/broadband offering.

Vodafone is also launching a low-price 3G phone, the Chinese-made Huawei V715.

This ninety gram candybar model provides UMTS speeds at up to 384kbit/s downloads and all the other features of Vodafone's 3G network such as video calling and access to the Live! portal.

In Europe, the V715 retails for between 89 to 99 Euros, or between NZ$175 to NZ$195.

However, New Zealand customers will have to stump up some more than their European counterparts: according to company spokesman Paul Brislen, the V715 will retail for $299 here, with lower pricing available if customers agree to lock themselves into two-year contracts with the mobile provider.

Business users looking forward to the 7.2Mbit/s upgrade to Vodafone's cellular 3G broadband service will have to wait further however.

According to Brislen, the upgrade will be demonstrated before Christmas, but he declined to give any exact date, or say when Vodafone intends to launch the faster service.

The reason for the delay is mainly down to lack of devices supporting the faster speeds, says Brislen.

In Australia, Telstra said in August that there won't be any devices available for its 14.4Mbit/s capable Next G network; presently, Telstra's data cards support 3.6Mbit/s downloads only, and the regional telco giant intends to skip 14.4Mbit/s devices completely, and go for faster than 20Mbit/s ones instead, without giving a timeframe for when this will happen.

Cheaper conference calls could however appeal to Vodafone's business customers.

The company is rolling out a teleconferencing service that was used in-house only, but which Vodafone decided could be sold outside as well.