A woman walks past three Telstra public phone booths in suburban Sydney August 9, 2012. Telstra, Australia's biggest phone company, posted a larger-than-expected 5 percent fall in second-half profit as declines in its traditional fixed-line business outwe
A woman walks past three Telstra public phone booths in suburban Sydney August 9, 2012. Telstra, Australia's biggest phone company, posted a larger-than-expected 5 percent fall in second-half profit as declines in its traditional fixed-line business outweighed growth in fixed retail broadband and mobile revenue. Reuters/Daniel Munoz

After Telstra surprised its data hungry users with the announcement of its revised data plans, Australia’s second largest telco, Optus has pitted its ‘Family Sharing Plan’ against Telstra. Under the Family Sharing Plan, families will be allowed to share their data allocations by combining the entire family’s mobile phone plans in one bill that paid at the end of every month.

“All families have different data needs, with some people in the house using more than others. Now customers can combine all the mobile plans in their home on the same bill and make the most of their data,” The Australian report quoted Optus’s marketing and product boss Vicki Brady, as saying.

As this plan pools the entire family’s bill together, Optus expects that more number of customers will switch to this offer, reports The Australian.

The new postpaid plans will offer unlimited voice calls and text messages. Customers can combine as many new SIM only plans or My Plan Plus as there will be no ongoing cost for sharing data. The standard $60 plan will now be available with 3GB data and $100 plan will be available with 10GB. Customers signing up before 5 July will get a six month subscription to Netflix. Optus’s $90 plan offers unlimted download plans for all fixed line internet customers. It also includes free tablet devices, Fetch TV and six month subscription to Netflix.

Telcos in Australia are competing against each other by luring data hungry customers with more mobile data allowances. Optus announced its new plans after Telstra revised its mobile data plans offering ‘value for money’ data packages on all its plans. Telstra, which is the considered to be the most expensive telco in Australia surprised its subscriber base by announcing its generous data plans.

In Australia, Telstra has more than 16 million subscribers, Optus has 9.4 million subscribers while Vodafone Hutchison has 5.3 million subscribers.

Optus has announced these plans just few days before the Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge launch. Optus had last revamped its mobile plans in mid-2014 with the launch of its MyPlan offers.

As per Industry experts and analysts, over the past five months, Optus has been pricing its plans aggressively, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

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