Vodafone Australia, the country’s third largest mobile operator, has introduced plans that simplify voice billing and aim to eliminate bill shock.

The new plans, which replace its two-decade-old ‘Talk Value’ packages, give all new prepaid and postpaid customers (both business and consumer) unlimited standard national calls and texts.

“We know the fear of bill shock is holding many Australians back from using their smartphones with confidence,” said Vodafone chief marketing officer Loo Fun Chee. “When our customers make a call, whether here or overseas, or stream a song, we want them to do this without worrying about receiving a big bill.”

She noted that the telecoms industry has long been criticised for its complicated offerings. “Including unlimited standard national calls and texts in all of our new plans makes calling or texting as simple as it should be.”

New postpaid customers will be able to make flat-rate international calls – 60 minutes for AUD6 ($4.42) — to selected countries. The company is offering unlimited standard international calls to 10 destinations — China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, UK and the US – for its SIM-only plans of AUD50 and above.

Vodafone also has increased the data allocation across many plans, with its AUD100 Red plan now including 10GB of data (up from 6GB before).

A new data control feature, it said, allows the primary user on shared plans to turn data on and off via the MyVodafone app if someone is using more than their fair share of data.

“Customers have welcomed shared plans, but many customers, especially parents, have asked for a better way to avoid additional costs from excess data use,” Chee said.