By Grant Shepherd

SYDNEY, NSW: At the launch of Motorola’s new smartphones this morning, Optus revealed that it will be launching a range of new rate plans. This is a new direction for the telco, which is trying to unlock the potential of mobile phones for consumers.

Michael Smith, managing director of Optus Consumer, said the company will now start to offer its customers a variety of rate plans to specifically suit each mobile handset on the market.

“At Optus we want to unlock the potential of a device with a variety of plans to suit each consumer,” he said.

“People have changed the way they use their handsets and we want to embrace this.”

In a joint announcement with Motorola this morning, Smith said it will now offer rate plans designed around social networking usage. This is to support the new Motorola Backflip and Dext, which are targeted at social networking aficionados.

The first new plan is called ‘yes’ Social. It offers consumers data allowances for email and web browsing, calling, and SMS. But the differentiating feature is unlimited access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

‘yes’ Social plans start at $19 a month, which includes 100 megabytes of data, and range up to $99 a month for 3 gigabytes of data.

Four new rate plans have also been developed for Optus Business customers. Smith said they will help businesses communicate more effectively with their customers.

In terms of the new Motorola handsets, Optus will have the Backflip for $0 upfront on a ‘yes’ Social plan for $49 a month over 24 months (includes 500 megabytes of data). The Dext will be available for $0 upfront on a ‘yes’ Social $59 plan over 24 months (includes 1-gigabyte of data).

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