As it promised back in August this year, Telstra has reminded its customers that new third-party carrier billing arrangements will end this weekend on 3 December 2017. In an SMS sent to customers this afternoon, Telstra advised:
Hi. From 3 December 2017, you’ll no longer be able to make purchases in Google Play using your pre-paid account. You’ll still be able to purchase Google Play content using alternative payment methods, however the current arrangement where a subscription for third-party content is debited from your pre-paid balance, will end. If you attempt to set up carrier billing in Google Play from 3 December 2017, you will receive an error message. This change does not affect any existing third party mobile content subscriptions you current have charged to your Telstra pre-paid account. To apologise for any inconvenience, we’ve added a 10GB data pack to your account valid for 28 days. For more info on the changes visit: telstra.com/premiumsmschanges.
What’s unclear is how this will affect existing arrangements. For example, if – before 3 December – you subscribe to Google Play Music via carrier billing, it is unclear whether this will cease, or whether it will be grandfathered and allowed to continue. The wording of Telstra’s message above on this is somewhat unclear, but the Telstra Crowdsupport page for the changes suggests that this will continue to work:
If you have existing subscription services, or you add new subscriptions before 3 December, they will still appear on your Telstra bill or if you are a pre-paid customer, they will continue to be debited from your pre-paid account.
If you are a Telstra customer and want to set up carrier billing for your Google Play purchase, I’d suggest doing so quickly, because the changes come into effect this weekend.
Let us know how you’re affected.
