Virgin Mobile has introduced Data Rollover for new customers singing up to its postpaid mobile plans. The Data Rollover is similar to Virgin Mobile’s rollover of text and call value, allowing users to carry unused data from one month into the next.
It’s a move that’s sure to benefit users who don’t regularly use up all of their data in any given month, though it has also been introduced in a bid to save some customers who sometimes do go over their allocated data limit.
In a press release, Virgin Mobile CEO, David Scribner, explains “although less than one in five of our customers use all their data in any given month, many customers are ‘occasional breakers’ and over a six-month period, around 40 per cent will break their data limits at least once. We looked into it and discovered that almost half of these people would have paid nothing or at least reduced excess charges if they had Data Rollover”.
The move is underpinned by research conducted by Virgin Mobile, which shows that up to 95 per cent of Australians wish they could hold onto their unused data. Forty per cent of Australian smartphone users said that the cost of breaking data limits or adding data packs was a high source of dissatisfaction. Furthermore, up to 52 per cent of Australian smartphone users cited value for money when it comes to data as a primary consideration when selecting a mobile provider.
Hoarders looking to stock up on data usage over a multi-month period will be left disappointed, as the rollover only takes into account standard data not used in the previous month. Any unused rollover data does not get added on to the following month, meaning that data can’t be stockpiled.
Existing customers wishing to take advantage of the new data rollover plans will have to upgrade their current plan to a new one that supports data rollover, or wait until they require a new handset on a postpaid plan that supports rollover.
