Ask most business owners what a company mobile costs and they'll give you the monthly plan price. The real number is significantly higher — and cloud mobile changes the equation in ways that aren't immediately obvious.
Here's an honest breakdown of what traditional company phones actually cost, and how cloud mobile compares across every line item.
The Visible Costs of Company Phones
Start with what shows up on invoices:
Hardware An entry-level business smartphone in Australia runs from around $500 for a budget Android device to $1,500+ for a current iPhone or Samsung flagship. Most businesses don't buy budget — they issue mid-range devices to avoid early replacement cycles.
At $800 per device and a typical three-year replacement cycle, that's $267 per user per year in hardware alone, before any accessories (cases, screen protectors, chargers).
Mobile plans Business mobile plans with adequate data typically run $40–$80 per month per user in Australia. Call that $600–$960 per user per year.
Total visible cost per user: roughly $870–$1,230 per year.
That's the number most businesses are working with when they evaluate whether company phones are worth it. But it's not the real number.
The Hidden Costs That Don't Appear on the Phone Bill
Mobile Device Management (MDM) software Once you issue company devices, you need to manage them. MDM platforms like Jamf, Microsoft Intune, or SOTI allow IT to remotely wipe lost devices, enforce security policies, and manage app deployment. Cost: $4–$15 per device per month, or $48–$180 per user per year.
IT administration time Procuring, configuring, and managing company devices takes real time. Provisioning a new device, setting up email, configuring MDM profiles, and handing it to a new employee is a half-day of IT work. Multiply that by your annual headcount churn.
For a 20-person business with 30% annual turnover (six new devices per year) at an IT hourly rate of $80, that's roughly $2,400 per year in provisioning time alone — $120 per user.
Repairs and replacements Cracked screens, liquid damage, and lost devices are facts of life with company hardware. Even with a modest assumption of one in five devices needing a repair or replacement in any given year, at $200–$400 per incident, this adds $40–$80 per user per year.
SIM management and number administration Activating SIMs, suspending or porting numbers when staff leave, and managing plan changes all involve carrier admin time that's easy to underestimate.
Total hidden cost per user: roughly $210–$380 per year.
Revised Total: Traditional Company Phone
Combining visible and hidden costs:
| Cost Component | Per User Per Year |
|---|---|
| Hardware (amortised over 3 years) | $267 |
| Mobile plan | $600–$960 |
| MDM software | $48–$180 |
| IT admin time (provisioning/support) | $80–$150 |
| Repairs/replacements | $40–$80 |
| SIM and number administration | $30–$60 |
| Total | $1,065–$1,697 |
For a 10-person mobile team, that's $10,650–$16,970 per year. For 20 people, double it.
The Cloud Mobile Model
Cloud mobile takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of issuing hardware, you give each staff member a business number that runs as an app on their own device (BYOD — Bring Your Own Device).
What you pay for: A cloud mobile subscription covers the business number, calling, voicemail, call recording, and all the business features. Jet Cloud Mobile plans start from a fixed monthly per-user fee — with no hardware, no MDM, and no provisioning overhead.
What you don't pay for:
- Hardware (staff use their own device)
- MDM software (no company device to manage)
- Provisioning time (onboarding a new user takes minutes, not hours)
- Repairs (not your hardware to repair)
- SIM management (numbers are managed in the admin portal, not at carrier level)
Per user per year with cloud mobile:
| Cost Component | Per User Per Year |
|---|---|
| Cloud mobile subscription | $240–$480 |
| Hardware | $0 (employee's own device) |
| MDM | $0 |
| IT admin time | ~$10 (minutes to provision) |
| Repairs | $0 |
| Total | $250–$490 |
The Comparison
| Company Phones | Cloud Mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware cost | $267/user/year | $0 |
| Monthly plan / subscription | $600–$960 | $240–$480 |
| MDM | $48–$180 | $0 |
| IT admin | $80–$150 | ~$10 |
| Repairs | $40–$80 | $0 |
| Total per user per year | $1,065–$1,697 | $250–$490 |
| Saving per user per year | $575–$1,207 |
For a 10-person mobile team, cloud mobile saves between $5,750 and $12,070 per year.
Beyond the Numbers: Operational Differences
Onboarding speed New starter with a company phone: order device, configure MDM, provision SIM, hand over — half a day minimum. New starter with cloud mobile: add them in the admin portal, they download the app, they're live within minutes.
Offboarding control When a staff member leaves with a company phone: retrieve device, wipe it, suspend plan, port or cancel number. With cloud mobile: disable their account in the portal. Done. The number stays with the business.
Device quality Most employees use better personal devices than what companies issue. With BYOD and cloud mobile, your team is working on the devices they actually prefer — which often means a better experience and fewer complaints about hardware.
Employee satisfaction Many employees — particularly in white-collar roles — prefer not to carry a second device. Cloud mobile gives them a professional business identity on the phone they're already using.
When Company Phones Still Make Sense
Cloud mobile isn't the right answer in every situation. Company phones remain appropriate when:
- Employees work in physically demanding environments where company-grade ruggedised devices are needed
- Security requirements mean the business needs full control over the physical device
- Roles require specific device configurations or apps that need MDM management regardless
- Staff don't have their own suitable device (less common in most office and field roles)
For most Australian SMEs with mobile or field-based staff, these exceptions don't apply. The default answer, on cost and operational grounds, increasingly points to cloud mobile.
Run the Numbers for Your Business
The calculation is straightforward: take your current number of company mobile users, multiply by your actual per-user cost (including hidden costs), and compare to cloud mobile per-seat pricing.
For most businesses with five or more mobile users, the saving is material — and the operational simplification is an added benefit that doesn't appear in any spreadsheet.