Vaya launches Australia’s cheapest unlimited call and text plan for $16/mo

Vaya has launched the “cheapest Unlimited Talk and Text plan in Australia.” The Amaysim-owned mobile virtual network operator has introduced the Unlimited S plan, which costs just $16 a month and does not have a lock-in contract.

The telco hopes to compete with the country’s biggest players – Telstra, Optus and Virgin – with its budget mobile plan. From Wednesday, the Unlimited S plan only costs $16 a month. This includes unlimited calls and SMS and MMS messages plus 1GB of Optus-powered 4G data. Excess data charge is $10 per extra gigabyte. Customers hoping to save a bit more can pay upfront 12 months’ bill worth $174, which equals to only $14.50 per month.

The plan was originally $20 per month and had 1.5GB of data. Vaya has re-priced its mobile plans, making them more budget-friendly. The pricing scheme now runs plans at monthly $15, $16, $19, $23 and $33, with 1.5GB, 1GB, 2GB, 3GB and 7GB free data respectively. All plans don’t have lock-in contracts.

Vaya’s re-priced $16 plan is now the lowest in the market. The closest price from its competitors is $16.95 per month from Kogan, which also offers unlimited calls and 1GB data.

“A comparable plan with the big three can cost up to twice what our plan costs, so we really believe in Aussies shopping around to get the best deal because by doing their homework, they can save pretty significant amounts of money,” Jennifer Snell, Vaya’s senior digital marketing manager, told news.com.au.

And because the plans don’t have locked-in periods, customers can optimise their plan whenever they want.

Vaya also offers a price beat guarantee, with which it hopes to attract new and retain existing customers. The MVNO will price-match a comparable 4G mobile plan as a Vaya plan and give customers who discover the rival plan one month free.

Parent company Amaysim bought Vaya for $70 million earlier this year.