Vodafone targets SME, SOHO markets

Vodafone said the new offerings were aimed at "aggressively growing" its share of the SOHO and SME markets, targeting incumbents Optus and Telstra.

According to chief marketing officer for Vodafone Australia, Ian Scherger, the market holds great prospects for Vodafone as "small businesses compromise 99 percent of the total business market in Australia."

"That's 5 million phones across approximately 900,000 businesses, which provides a huge opportunity for Vodafone to offer great value, bundle-style deals in the business sector," said Scherger.

The bundles listed under the title "Vodafone Business Cap" are claimed to offer multi-user capped mobile services with no fixed contracts. The carrier says these allow businesses to select the number of users on the plan and the spend amount for each month.

Vodafone said that customers are also given a range of "value" options on standard, national fixed-line and mobile calls, as well as text, voicemail and Vodafone 123 services.

The four Business Cap plans begin at AU$199 per month for a 2-4 employee service (which Vodafone said equates to AU$700 in value); rising to the most expensive plan of AU$999 per month for a 2-25 employee service with a claimed value offering of AU$5,000.

Additionally, Vodafone said it was offering a "Group Rate" that sets an AU10 cent per 5 minute block spend rate for calls made to all other phones (and designated services) in the Business Cap group.

"Businesses with a small, mobilised fleet that do a lot of interstate telecommunications are set to benefit the most, as STD rates are not charged on mobile phones," said Scherger.

Vodafone states that a fixed rate for standard calls will apply in the first six months of the deal, along with per second billing for standard calls.

The deals will be available from 18 August from all Vodafone core stores and most Vodafone dealers, the company said.