Next G Reaches 2mil, Offers New Features

The Telstra Next G network has over two million subscribers, providing a landmark for the telco which has simultaneously revealed new features available on the network.

From this Thursday the company will remove browsing charges from its BigPond Mobile Home and Today tabs, providing free access to selected content such as news, weather and sports scores for Next G and 3G customers.

The two million subscribers have signed up in just over a year, with Telstra Consumer Marketing and Channels group managing director, David Moffatt, saying customers are embracing Next G’s speeds, coverage and features.

“The customer base is currently growing around 250,000 per month and in the last two months we have surpassed the two million mark,” he said.

“The removal of browsing charges from Thursday within the BigPond Mobile Home and Today tabs is great news for Telstra mobile customers with Next G and 3G services. From today they can check news updates, get the weekend forecast, use the WhereIs map functionality, preview BigPond TV and Music, get sports scores and much more, as many times as they want, for no charge.”

According to Moffatt, removing the browsing charges from the Home and Today tabs will reduce the pricing uncertainty experienced by new sign-ups to the network.

“Customers will only pay for what they wish to download or subscribe to and will be alerted to these charges when they apply.  So we’re encouraging all our customers to explore the great array of mobile sites that are now available on our Next G and 3G services,” Moffatt said.

There is also now a new Web tab added to the BigPond Mobile portal, which provides easy access to a selection of well-known and popular websites.

Customer can click through to Telstra’s ‘portal partners’ – MySpace, Hotmail and Yahoo!, and other websites for $2 for MB using a pay as you go process. Alternatively, users can purchase a Browser Pack at various sizes, ranging from $5 for 5MB through to $59 for 200MB.