TelstraClear and Vodafone's seven-year itch is not flash news for customers.
This is the title of the press release I received from Vodafone this morning:"Vodafone assumes direct control of TelstraClear's managed mobile customer base".
It's a polite way of Vodafone saying: "We've split with TelstraClear after a really acrimonious fight that neither of us wants to apologise for."
It means
that in excess of 30,000 mobile subscribers who have enjoyed the advantage of being able to pay their mobile phone bill with their TelstraClear internet, home phone and toll calling accounts, will now receive a separate bill from Vodafone.
What a pain that is. The move ends a seven year old deal with TelstraClear and, ironically, comes as TelstraClear's smaller competitors are signing wholesale deals left, right and centre with Vodafone, which will allow all of them to offer mobile services and bill customers directly.
TelstraClear mobile subscribers won't have their services interrupted, which is one saving grace.
But what does this say about where TelstraClear is heading?
It looks likely that the company will now wait until Telecom has built its GSM network and seek a wholesale or MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) deal to resurrect its mobile offering.
Telecom may use this as a bargaining chip to win good terms with Telstra for the GSM roaming it will need to secure across the Tasman.
In the meantime, the mobile debacle and news that TelstraClear is to shed 100 jobs as it moves back-end functions to Australia, suggest TelstraClear is battening down the hatches, stripping out cost and waiting until the economics of unbundling become apparent.
So, there's not much to be happy about at the moment if you're a TelstraClear customer, or for that matter, one of the hundred employees facing the axe.
