New budget Aussie telco in the works after Optus buys Amaysim for cool AU$250m

Optus has today announced a double-header in its bid to dominate the Australian mobile market, confirming that it will acquire Amaysim and also establish a new local Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) of its own, operating in the budget end of the market.

Amaysim is the fourth-largest mobile provider in Australia, and the largest when only considering MVNOs – a category which excludes Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone that have their own networks.

• The best Optus plans available right now

The news of the acquisition comes at the same time as Amaysim is moving to rebrand itself to celebrate 10 years of Australian operation as the “least complained about telco in Australia” (according to the most recent Telecommunications Complaints in Content report).

Specifics around what the rebrand entails are thin, but Amaysim is promising its customers “great value, more data for their buck, no clingy lock-in contracts, Optus 4G network, no tricky catches, and surprising delights when they least expect it”.

From this, we can likely expect the company to continue offering affordable SIM-only options with decent data inclusions, no lock-in contracts, and the occasional promotion for new and existing customers.

• The best SIM-only plans available now

Gomo the details

The other major news from Optus today is that the Aussie telco will be launching another network of its own called Gomo – a budget, digital-only network provider.

Optus’ parent company, Singtel, has already been offering Gomo in Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, but hopes to join in the success of other such telco imports as Circles.Life, which have brought incredibly competitive plans to Australia such as the following 100GB plan:

Circles.Life | 100GB data | AU$28p/m (first six months, then AU$38p/m)

Circles.Life continues to offer this ace SIM-only deal. For only AU$38 per month, you’ll score a huge 100GB of data. Circles.Life will also reduce your plans fees for the first six months, so you’ll pay AU$28 each billing for the first half-year, saving you AU$10 each time. You can cancel the service any time without a fee, and it uses the Optus 4G Plus network.

Total minimum cost is AU$28

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Gomo customers will handle everything from within a dedicated app, from onboarding to bill management, which help streamline operations and keep Optus' costs down. This will, however, likely mean a lack of any support via phone for Gomo customers.

Optus also promises Gomo customers will have “full accessibility to its 4G coverage [...] and quickly growing 5G network”, which could represent an excellent budget alternative to getting directly connected to the Telstra or Optus next-gen networks.

No specific details around new Amaysim or Gomo plan pricing has been announced, but we expect more to be made available when Optus completes its acquisition.

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