Optus adds free Apple Music to postpaid plans, ditches data-free music and TV streaming

Optus has today announced that it will be offering free subscriptions to Apple Music with its postpaid SIM only and handset mobile phone plans. Depending on the value of the plan, customers will be offered either a 6-month free subscription or a 12-month free subscription, usually valued at $11.99 per month.

The Apple Music offer is for both new and re-contracting Optus postpaid customers. If you've previously had a three-month free trial with Apple, you can still take advantage of the Optus offer. But note that the offer doesn't include data-free streaming. Your access to Apple Music is free, but data charges still apply for your use.

To coincide with the new offer, Optus seems to have dropped its signature data-free streaming offers on all postpaid mobile plans. In the past, Optus SIM only or handset mobile phone plans have all come with data-free streaming of Spotify, Google Play Music and iHeart Radio, as well as the option to add data-free streaming of Netflix, Stan and ABC iView for an extra $5 per month. These offers are no longer advertised on the Optus website.

However, Optus prepaid plans don't seem to have been affected. The telco's Epic Data prepaid plans all still come with 10GB of streaming data on top of standard data allowances. The streaming data is for use to watch Netflix, Stan or ABC iView.

Of course, mobile plans come with so much data these days that data-free streaming may not be missed by many. 

For example, if you were to take up Optus' $40 SIM only plan you would get 40GB of data per month. Streaming Apple Music will use approximately 155MB per hour, which means you'd have to listen to 258 hours' worth of music to burn through your cap. Streaming Netflix in standard definition will use up 250GB per hour, which means you'd need to watch 160 hours' worth of Netflix to burn through your cap.

On the other hand, it's still disappointing to see a value-adding perk like data-free streaming disappear. It certainly makes Optus' cheaper plans - like its SIM only plan with 3GB for $30 - much less appealing.

Optus postpaid mobile plans still come with free subscriptions to Optus Sport and the National Geographic app. 

Jacqui Dent

Editorial Strategist

Jacqui Dent is an Editorial Content Strategist at WhistleOut Australia, where she writes about mobile phone plans, NBN plans and everything in between. Over her ten-year career, she has worked to provide informed advice to the public, first in the sphere of writing and now in the world of consumer tech. Jacqui has also written about consumer telco products for Business Insider, Pedestrian and the 50Up Club.

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