Kantar has released its carrier share figures for the Australian consumer mobile market up to June 2017, and as usual, the game of carrier share numbers has changed.
The great Game of Phone contracts has seen the telco market shift, most notably for Telstra which is down on all fronts in the total market, pre-paid and post-paid.
Meanwhile, Telstra’s arch and original enemy, Optus, the perennial number two, is still firmly in second spot and still well behind Telstra, but has seen all of its figures rise.
Kantar’s full figures are embedded below, with Kantar Worldpanel Comtech APAC’s Strategic Insight Director, Tamsin Timpson, giving us a great wrap of the current market.
{loadposition alex08}Noting that Optus has shone in the post-paid market, Timpson said that Kantar’s latest data “shows the postpaid sector making up 65% of the total mobile market, with over half falling into the traditional SIM and phone tariff type".
“Pre-paid customers account for 35% of the mobile base, with 77% recharging as and when needed. At the total market level, Optus displays the biggest growth of 2.4% to 24.2%.”
Timpson continues, adding that, “the pre-paid market experiences a 2.7% increase on last year, with Telstra suffering a year-on-year share loss of 5.4% to 36.6% in the latest quarter".
“Optus, Aldi and Amaysim enjoy share growth compared to the same period a year ago.
“Despite the overall importance placed on cheaper packages, ‘customer service’ and ‘the need for larger data allowance’ grow in importance as reasons for choosing a carrier within the pre-paid market, with Optus over-indexing on ‘customer service’ as a reason for choice, whilst customers choose Amaysim SIM only packages when ‘data allowance’ is a key factor.
“Sixteeen percent of pre-paid customers last year had a data allowance of 4GB+, whilst this number increases to over 21% this year.
“The demographic profile of the prepaid customer steadily moves towards a younger female demographic year on year, with 54% being female and 46% aged under 35. This trend is partly driven by iPhone users who have the longest length of handset ownership at 28 months vs 25 months on average.
“These consumers are holding on to their handset for longer, whilst having the flexibility to move from carrier to carrier choosing a prepaid plan that suits their needs.”
Timpson adds: “The post-paid market remains the biggest, with Telstra share declining by 0.8% since last year and Optus continuing its upward trend, increasing share by 2.7% compared to June 2016.
“Customer churn from Telstra to Optus is noticed, with consumers leaving Telstra due to the desire for ‘cheaper calls/sms’.
“Overall, the top reason for joining Optus is ‘better network coverage’. Optus customers are higher users of most services, including music streaming apps such as Spotify, Pandora and JB Hi-Fi and video streaming services such as Netflix, Stan and Fetch TV.
“Vodafone enjoys a 0.7% share uplift since last quarter in post-paid, with customers taking advantage of the double data plans on offer (the proportion of Vodafone postpaid customers on a data allowance of 6GB+ rises from 26% in March to 38% this quarter),” Timpson said.
Thus, while Telstra has seen some fall in market share, the 800 pound “telcorilla” still sits atop the telco throne, as ruler of the nine Australian telco kingdoms and holder of the largest individual market share, and isn’t expected to lose to any opposing quarter anytime soon.
Below are three charts supplied by Kantar which give the precise details and the situation for each telco, and serves as your form guide on how the great Game of Phones is playing out:
