Yatango Mobile, which calls itself ‘the world's first social telecommunications utility’ has announced what it says is Australia’s best value 4G mobile plans.

Yatango is mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) which uses the Optus network. It says its new plans “exposes the gouging by major telcos such as Telstra” (a common them in the industry this week).

Yatango’s new 4G pre-paid mobile plan offers unlimited voice and text and 3GB of data for $43.90 a month. “Telstra’s comparable offering with the same inclusions is $130, while budget provider Amaysim, which only offers 3G not 4G, charges $44.90 for a similar plan with more data.”

Andy Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Yatango, said his key point of difference was Yatango customers only pay for what they need on a month-to-month basis.

“We’re all about transparency, unbundling, no contracts, flexibility and control – and we believe we’ve got the best technology, the best customer experience and the best price points,” said Taylor, who is also the co-founder of peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne.

“The industry works on breakage and a lack of transparency – for the major telcos it’s never been in their best interests to let you know exactly what you need. They’d rather sell you an insurance policy in the form of a plan and profit off the breakage.”

‘Breakage’ is a term used in the industry to describe extra revenues from people who have exceeded their voice or data allowance.

Yatango’s Unlimited Voice and Text package starts at $27.90 per month. “We are able to offer consumers much fairer prices because we a software technology company that is 100% self-service,” said Taylor. “Our tight-knit user community helps provide customer support, reducing the need for big call centres.

“This social integration and community model enables Yatango to acquire acquiring customers at a quarter of the cost the industry pays. Our platform uses the power of the community to drive down the cost of the service.

“Having been in the market for 18 months now, we are seeing huge growth in community membership which is allowing us to offer better pricing. This is the beauty of a collaborative consumption model whereby the more people that join, the cheaper it get for everyone.”

“We believe the market will go purely to SIM-only and people will buy their device and SIM card and won’t want to lock themselves into a 24 month contract,” Taylor said.