Vodafone and Optus offer healthcare workers free mobile service

Communities across the globe and on home soil are facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with our healthcare workers battling on the frontline. In a gesture of gratitude to the selfless practitioners, Optus and Vodafone are offering to comp their mobile phone bills.

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the telco wanted to express its thanks to everyone putting themselves on the frontline during the pandemic.  

 “We are so grateful to all the nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers who are working in unprecedented conditions,” said Bayer Rosmarin. 

Vodafone CEO Iñaki Berroeta expressed a similar sentiment.

“We recognise frontline healthcare workers are working in extraordinarily challenging conditions as they care for Australians in need,” said Berroeta.

In an initiative homogeneous to that for volunteer firefighters earlier this year, both Vodafone and Optus will pay registered health care professionals postpaid bills for the next two and three months, respectively.

Eligible Vodafone prepaid customers will also receive a two month recharge credit. 

All Vodafone customers registered with AHPRA will be eligible for the two free months, while Optus is yet to release eligibility criteria.

Both providers are ironing out the details of how applications will be processed, but an online form will be available for Optus customers some time next week.

Telstra expressed its utmost respect for frontline medical teams in a statement, but is currently not offering any specific assistance for healthcare customers.

Most major telcos are offering some form of support for Australians during this time, you can read the latest telco assistance initiatives here.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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