Nothing is broken, so nothing gets changed. Then that employee resigns.
Moving staff onto business mobile phone plans changes four things: the billing, the number ownership, the data, and how fast a service can be added or removed. Every service sits on one account in the business name, so one invoice covers the lot and it carries your ABN. Numbers registered to the business stay when someone leaves. Data allowances can be pooled across the team, and a new SIM can be connected without a new contract for each person.
Sixfam is a business telco in Keysborough, in Melbourne’s south-east, and its business mobile plans are powered by the Telstra Wholesale Mobile Network.
An ABN plan is a mobile plan opened in a business name against an Australian Business Number, rather than in a person’s name. Some providers call these business SIM plans or ABN mobile phone plans. The handset service works the same way. The billing, the ownership and the paperwork all change.
Here is what changes in the bookkeeping tray each month:
The ATO requires a valid tax invoice for any purchase over $82.50 including GST before a business can claim the GST credit. Invoices of $1,000 or more must also show the buyer’s identity or ABN. A bill addressed to a staff member at home does not meet that test. Where a phone is used for work and private calls, only the business-use share can be claimed. Your accountant can confirm what your own business can claim.
The account holder owns the mobile number. The ACMA describes the account holder as the person the telco issued the number to. If a staff member signed up in their own name, the number is theirs. It leaves with them, and so does every customer who has it saved.
The mobile numbers that cause trouble are the ones nobody checked the billing name on. It usually comes up the week someone resigns.
Numbers can be moved from one customer to another. The ACMA calls that a move, and it is a different process from a port, which is a transfer between telcos. Two rules decide how it goes:
A move is a short phone call while the staff member still works for you. It gets much harder once they have gone.
Porting a mobile number usually takes about three hours, according to the ACMA, after an identity check by SMS code, phone call or identity documents. Local numbers starting with 03 take 8 to 15 days. A port covering more than one local number can take up to 30 days.
Keep the old service active until the transfer is confirmed. A disconnected number cannot be ported, and it then sits in quarantine for 6 to 12 months. Your old telco may charge to port a number away, with the ACMA giving $8 as an example figure for a mobile.
Pooled data combines the data allowances of eligible services on one account into a single pool that any of those services can draw from. Here is one month with five staff on 20GB each.
| Staff member | Data used | On five separate 20GB plans | On a shared 100GB pool |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam, on the road all month | 34GB | 14GB over the allowance, so speeds drop | Draws what is needed from the pool |
| Priya | 12GB | 8GB left unused | Draws 12GB from the pool |
| Dan | 9GB | 11GB left unused | Draws 9GB from the pool |
| Alex | 7GB | 13GB left unused | Draws 7GB from the pool |
| Mel | 6GB | 14GB left unused | Draws 6GB from the pool |
| Team total | 68GB | 46GB wasted, one person slowed | 68GB of 100GB used, 32GB spare |
Same five people, same 68GB. On separate plans one person spends a fortnight on slowed data while 46GB sits unused on the other four services.
Three things to check before you assume pooling will help:
Most Australian business plans now slow the speed when data runs out instead of charging for extra data, commonly to around 1.5Mbps. That is workable for email and maps, and painful for a video call.
On a business account, a service is added or cancelled at the account level rather than through a new contract each time. A SIM, the small card that connects a handset to the network, can usually be connected within a business day. Ask how your provider handles part months.
When someone leaves, the SIM can be cancelled that week, or handed to their replacement so the number stays in the business.
Spend controls sit at the account level too. Worth asking what your provider can switch on:
There are three ways to put a handset in a staff member’s hand, and they end in three different places.
Read that last option against a plan sold as month to month. The plan can end whenever you like while the handset repayment has two years left. They are two agreements with two end dates.
Five things change when a service moves from a personal plan to a business account.
| Personal plan | Business mobile plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | One bill per person, claimed back as an expense | One invoice for every service, made out to the business with your ABN |
| Number ownership | Registered to the staff member, and leaves when they do | Registered to the business, and stays when staff change |
| Data | Each plan stands alone, so unused data is wasted | Allowances can be pooled across eligible services |
| Support path | The staff member calls the telco and waits | The business raises it on the account, with usage visible per number |
| Adding a user | A new sign-up in that person’s name | A SIM added to the existing account, usually within a business day |
When you compare mobile business plans, weigh those five rows against the monthly price. A plan that costs a little more and keeps a customer-facing number inside the business pays for itself the first time someone resigns.
Coverage maps show predicted coverage. They do not guarantee service at a given address, and outdoor coverage and in-building coverage are separate questions.
A trades business running vans out of Dandenong South shows why. In one day a technician might be on a roof in Berwick, underground in a city car park, and inside a steel-clad warehouse in Pakenham. Those addresses are the ones to check.
A sole trader with one handset gets very little from a business mobile account beyond the billing. There is no pool to share with a single service, and nobody to add or remove. If the number is already registered in the business name and the current plan is cheaper, staying put is a fair answer.
The same goes for a team that works from one office. If five people use 4GB each because everything runs over the office Wi-Fi, pooling saves nothing, because nothing was being wasted.
A small business mobile account starts to earn its keep from around three or four services. The savings show up in the data nobody wasted, the reimbursements nobody processed, and the numbers nobody lost.
Coverage maps show predicted coverage. They do not guarantee service at a given address, and outdoor coverage and in-building coverage are separate questions.
A trades business running vans out of Dandenong South shows why. In one day a technician might be on a roof in Berwick, underground in a city car park, and inside a steel-clad warehouse in Pakenham. Those addresses are the ones to check.
Move numbers in a set order, a few at a time. A rejected request takes a few days to sort out, and you want that happening to one service rather than your whole fleet.
Then add a line to your staff checklists, because this problem is created at onboarding and found at offboarding. Before a number goes on a business card, a van or a website, check whose name it is in. When someone gives notice, put the mobile number on the list next to the laptop and the keys.
Pull up your last mobile bill and check which numbers are billed to the business and which are billed to a person. If a customer-facing number is in someone’s personal name, start there. Call 03 9200 2800 and we will work out the order with you.
A business mobile plan is a mobile service opened in a business name against an ABN. Billing, number ownership and support are handled at the account level rather than per person. The business gets a single tax invoice, owns each number, and can add or cancel a SIM without signing up again.
Yes. ABN mobile phone plans are opened against an Australian Business Number. That is what lets the provider bill the business rather than an individual. Sole traders with an ABN qualify, though the benefits are thinner with one service.
Usually yes, with two conditions. Only the account holder can request the move, so the staff member has to make it. The telco is also not obliged to agree. Do it while they still work for you, because the request gets much harder to organise afterwards.
Porting a mobile number usually takes about three hours, according to the ACMA, with an identity check first. Local numbers starting with 03 generally take 8 to 15 days. A port covering more than one local number can take up to 30 days.
Shared or pooled data combines the allowances of eligible services on one account into a single pool that any of those services can use. A staff member who travels can draw on data the office-based staff did not use. Nobody hits a limit while allowances go to waste elsewhere.
Per service, the best business mobile plans are priced close to consumer plans. The saving comes from pooled data that stops allowances going to waste, from the reimbursement admin that disappears, and from keeping the numbers your customers already call.
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