Navigating the Cost-of-Living Crisis: How Launtel and Monoova are helping Australians stay connected
Australia is facing a growing cost-of-living crisis. Nationwide, millions of households and businesses are experiencing mounting financial pressures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed employee living costs last year soared by four per cent in 20241. Notably, the June 2024 quarter was the first time since December 2010 that increases in living costs for all household types were higher than the increase in the CPI2. From housing and groceries to essential utilities like internet services, rising costs are making it harder for Australians to keep up.
Internet access is vital for work, education and healthcare. Telco providers, therefore, have an essential role to play in supporting consumers with affordable, reliable and transparent services.
Yet, traditional internet service providers (ISP) often use long-term contracts, fixed monthly fees, and inflexible plans. These models may not always align with the needs of households experiencing financial uncertainty. Individuals might find themselves incurring costs for services they can’t afford or don’t use regularly, or they might go without internet altogether, which can contribute to the digital divide.
Launtel, is one telecommunications provider stepping up to help Australians navigate the cost-of-living crisis. Proudly Australian-owned and operated, Launtel is an internet service provider (ISP) headquartered in Launceston, Tasmania. Since its founding in 2007, Launtel has been providing fast and flexible internet services with a strong focus on exceptional customer care and support for both residential customers and businesses across Australia.
Launtel started out of pure frustration. In 2007, Damian Ivereigh was fed up. Like many Australians, Damian was frustrated by the long wait times and the impersonal service of major telcos. What started as a workaround to his own internet issues quickly evolved into something bigger, and Launtel was born. It was built on the belief that customers deserve better. People need to be put people first, every step of the way.
How Launtel is making a difference
In an October 2024 survey by The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, 64% of Australians said lowering utility costs was a top priority for managing cost-of-living pressures3. Launtel is uniquely positioned to help meet that need.
Launtel empowers customers with full control over their internet service; Launtel offers daily pricing without lock-in contracts, allowing customers to pause, adjust, or resume their service at any time. This unique level of flexibility is especially valuable for individuals and families facing financial challenges, enabling them to stay connected without being tied to unaffordable, fixed-monthly plans.
The Launtel Portal gives customers full self-service control over their NBN connection and payments. Whether they prefer a set-and-forget or a pay-as-you-go approach, the portal allows customers to manage and adjust their internet service with ease. With the flexibility to request a refund anytime, it is an excellent solution for Australian individuals and families expecting greater control over their spending.
And once you have chosen your plan, Launtel offers a wide range of payment options for maximum flexibility. Customers can choose to pay in advance using a digital wallet, via a credit card, or even Bitcoin. Since integrating with Monoova and the New Payments Platform (NPP), Launtel introduced PayID and PayTo – both of which are real-time and surcharge-free payment methods. With PayTo, customers also benefit from the ability to view, authorise and manage recurring payment agreements directly within their banking app.
Currently, PayID and PayTo account for approximately 20% of all payments processed by Launtel – a figure that grows month on month. They’re now Launtel’s preferred payment methods over credit card payments due to their speed and significantly lower rate of disputed transactions, which has eased the load on customer support.
Tailored Connectivity Solutions for Businesses
For businesses, Launtel offers more than just fast, reliable internet. Launtel also provides custom connectivity solutions including apps, phones, online ordering, alarms and security cameras and other cloud-based services. Launtel works closely with each business to understand their unique needs and deliver solutions that are custom fit. Business customers also benefit from direct access to a dedicated, local support team to call on whenever they need help.
Launtel is also connected to Global Secure Layer’s (GSL) world-wide network, spanning APAC, EMEA, and North America. This means business customers access top-tier internet speeds not just across Australia, but around the globe. And with GSL’s real-time threat detection, potential cyber threats are blocked before they can impact a customer’s network.
Why is Launtel a winning choice for Consumers?
1. Superior, Award-Winning Customer Support
Launtel is proudly 100% Australian owned and operated, with all customer support based locally. This means customers can speak directly with knowledgeable, local team members who truly understand their needs. Their commitment to service excellence hasn’t gone unnoticed by their customers, with Launtel averaging 4.9 stars from over 1,600 reviews on productreview.com.au.
2. Fast, Reliable Internet Service
Launtel was named as the Winner of the Product Review Awards for best Internet Service Provider in Australia three years in a row and recently ranked as having the fastest speed by the ACCC, with customers receiving 103.8% of their NBN plan’s maximum speeds during peak hours between 7pm and 11pm4.
3. Flexible Daily Billing
Launtel is the only ISP in Australia to offer daily billing. It enables access on the customer’s terms and is the only utilities company in Australia that offers this feature to customers, making it unique to the market.
4. Customer-Led Engagement Model
With a user-friendly online portal, Launtel gives customers full control of their internet service. From adjusting plans to checking speeds and monitoring real-time usage, customers can self-serve, and connect with a customer service representative when they choose to do so.
How does Launtel use Innovation to deliver the best Customer Experience?
During a time when the cost of living continues to impact households across Australia, Launtel wants to provide customers with as many payment options as possible. To deliver on its mission, Launtel needs a partner that could match its flexibility, speed, and customer-first ethos. Monoova is that partner.
Monoova’s ability to deliver an API that could facilitate those payment flows at speed was critical to Launtel’s vision. Through Monoova, Launtel offers multiple real-time payment options to its customers:
- PayID: enables customers to make instant, secure payments via real-time account-to-account transfers.
- PayTo: a real-time recurring payments solution that users can view in their banking app, with more control and transparency than traditional direct debits.
Seamless integration and Fast Go-Live
Within weeks, Launtel’s solution, powered by Monoova, was operational.
“Integrating with the development was very easy, a few short weeks and we had all of our payment options up available for our clients like PayID and PayTo and we were accepting payments straight away. The team at Monoova’s been awesome, we’re in their Slack channel and whenever we have a question and we can post a message and it gets resolved very quickly.” – Adam Poulton, CEO, Launtel
Reduced Costs and Support Load
With a high volume of low-value transactions, Launtel found that credit card chargebacks and disputes were becoming a significant issue, generating a large number of support tickets and placing strain on their customer service team.
Switching to PayID and PayTo via Monoova’s APIs has dramatically reduced this. Launtel now benefits from real-time cash flow, fewer support requests, and lower transaction-related cost which delivering substantial savings and operational efficiency.
“Monoova’s really helped our customer experience, the new modern payment options are welcome by our client and being picked up more and more and they’ve reduced our support calls into the help desk.” – Adam Poulton, CEO, Launtel
In a market where flexibility, transparency, and customer experience matter more than ever, Launtel is setting a new standard as an ISP for both residential and business customers. Together, Launtel and Monoova are not just responding to the cost-of-living crisis, they’re redefining what Australians should expect from their telco and payment providers.
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/selected-living-cost-indexes-australia/latest-release
https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/rises-living-costs-across-all-household-types
https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Polling-Report-Cost-of-Living-REVISED-1.pdf
ACCC’s 23rd Measuring Broadband Australia: https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/News/ACCC-Measuring-Broadband-23: https://itwire.com/government-tech-news/technology-regulation/launtel-has-the-highest-speeds-during-peak-hours,-accc-report-says.html
