Telstra offers $0 laptops with mobile broadband

Telstra has launched a $0 laptop Next G promotion for Telstra business customers. It will be available in conjunction with Harvey Norman, Techhead Interactive and ICT Distribution.

The offer runs until June 30 and involves a laptop (from any vendor) up to the value of $700, a Telstra Turbo 3 series device and a 1GB per month data allowance for $99 per month over a period of 36 months.

The $0 laptop offer treads the same line as the well established $0 mobile phone deal. According to ICT managing director, Ben O'Leary, resellers will receive a reimbursement from Telstra for each $700 laptop supplied under the $0 laptop deal.

If customers wanted to purchase a laptop worth $1200 on the plan, they would have to pay $500 upfront.

"Telstra isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. They recognise the IT reseller channel already sells notebooks," O'Leary said. "There is definitely enough range for customers to choose from and if they're seeking more expensive models then the reseller has the option of taking $700 off the price of those models."

Techhead Interactive CEO, Tim Fussell, said it had established an arrangement with HP to supply specific models to resellers for the deal.

"HP has given us access to particular models at a substantially reduced price, which allows us to get them on that plan and resellers can make a decent margin on it," he said. "We'll supply the specific models to the reseller with the order as part of the deal."

The big message for resellers joining the program, Fussell said, was the opportunity to make more margin than what they can out of a standard laptop sale.

In a statement, executive director Telstra Business, Cathy Aston, said the $0 laptop deal was targeted at business owners struggling with cash flow.

"This package gives our customers access to the latest hardware and mobile broadband technology on Telstra's Next G network," she said. "This provides cost certainty and eliminates the stress of having to come up with a large upfront payment."

In February, Telstra announced plans to increase the download speed of the Next G network to 21Mbps.