Price war, proxy war make for one messy telco war

"WHO shot first?" is a question that Star Wars fans have debated for decades, poring over footage from the cantina shootout between antihero Han Solo and the villain Greedo.

Now, analysts can ask the same of the telco sector, glancing between the latest price-slashing salvos: new network operator TPG Telecom's two-year free plan for seniors, and Circles.Life's new "zero-dollar flexi plan".

A price war would put an ugly end to MVNOs' brief market honeymoon - which comes just as incumbents seemed to turn, at long last, to a strategy of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".