Telco war continues, Optus takes cap off streaming

Optus is offering new and existing customers unlimited mobile access to music streaming services including Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and Google Play Music. It is also removing the data cap for movie and TV streaming for those on its $100-a-month My Plan Plus mobile plan.

Those in other plans can get the deal for an extra $10 per month, provided they bring their Netflix and Presto subscriptions. However downloads and content such as ads are not included.

Optus’ Head of Mobile Marketing Tim Cowan explained the offer would encourage its subscribers to increase their mobile streaming without fear of the amount of data it was gobbling up. Customers on average watch eight hours of content weekly. An hour’s use a day can use more than 10 gigs of data a month

“With Optus offering more entertainment options to customers than ever before, they will be able to enjoy the best in TV, movies and music, streamed data-free, wherever they may be using Optus mobile network,” Cowan said.

“Netflix and Presto are just the start of our Mobile TV platform. We look forward to adding even more of the video content that our customers know and love over the coming months.

“We’re working closely with a range of Australian and global content providers to ensure we can give customers choice when it comes to data-free streaming.”

Optus’ new smartphone EPL streaming channel has been criticised by users over crashes, delays and picture quality.

Earlier this week, TMN reported that rival telco Telstra changed its home internet bundles to include free 3-month subscriptions to Netflix, Stan and Presto.