Telstra partner spending $30m to tap smartphone boom

A Telstra partner is banking on sales of handset "protection" by Australia phone and tablet retailers with a $30 million investment to expand its local operation.

Asurion Australia plans on making the investment over the next five years, with a new technical support centre accommodating about 150 staff opening in Armadale in Victoria this week.

The company claims more than 100 million users of its services across the US, Europe and Asia, and local take up is encouraging, according to country manager Graham Gordon.

"Volumes are growing significantly," Gordon told CRN. "We have a sensational attach rate," he said, referring to sales by post-paid channel providers for Telstra.

The providers' business model rests on consumers moving to a proactive rather than reactive approach to protecting phones and tablets.

Customers pay a monthly subscription fee which Gordon said covers them for "any event" - if they drop their phone, run over it with a car, or drop it in the bathroom, customers can call a support line and have a replacement sent in the next business day.

The Telstra site states that subscribers can swap or replace their phones or tablet with a same or a similar model twice a year. An extra fee can apply and Telstra states the replacement is usually refurbished.

It's much faster than going through the normal warranty process, argues Gordon, where customers might wait for a phone to be sent off for repair. "Usually by 10.30 or 11am next day you receive your device, unless you're in rural or remote location then it will be the day after," he said.

The subscription also includes automatic backup to the cloud and other protection features including the ability to remotely lock and wipe a device.

The service costs $13 a month or customers can pay $15, which also gives them access to a tech support line.

The serviced is white labelled, and sold under the name StayConnected through Telstra stores and Telstra post-paid channel partners, including Next Byte and JB HiFi. Asurion has an exclusive arrangement with Telstra.

While not commenting specifically about StayConnected, one channel provider, Sanjay Sharma of TSBC Australia, said value added services of this type were the "way of the future". "That's the way the whole world is going. It's good for customers," he said.