A $29 plan at 5.8c a minute for calls?  ($29 for 500 minutes)

Now THAT'S cheap!!!  Pity it's only available in NSW & VIC.  Will be
interesting to see if (and how) Telstra, Optus, Vodafone respond.

Jason

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9146987%5E15346%5E%5Enbv%5E15306
%2D15320,00.html

Orange blossoms with price caps
Michael Sainsbury
APRIL 01, 2004  

HUTCHISON has fired the latest salvo in the escalating mobile phone
price war with a strategy to offer capped-price voice plans on its
Orange network from the end of May.

The moves comes as it begins to gain traction with its third
generation (3G) video phone service, known as "3", which is now
believed to be attracting more than 7000 new customers each week.
Orange will offer users a range of choices - $29 for 500 minutes a
month, $99 for 1000 minutes, $149 for 1500 minutes or $199 for 2000
minutes.

Orange director Phil Wise said the company was targeting fixed-line
subscribers. To push the point home, Orange was offering 10-minute
calls to fixed lines for 24c.

Macquarie Equities, in a note to clients last week, said it expected
Orange to continue to build on gains of 61,000 users made last year.
Orange had 364,000 customers by December 31, and Macquarie estimates
it will add a further 20,000 this quarter, with "3" contributing a
further 60,000 to 65,000.

Macquarie said: "Overall, mobile penetration in Australia at the end
of December had reached 77 per cent, suggesting market growth will
slow in 2004.

"The strong performance of Hutchison is therefore likely to be at the
expense of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone."