As part of the operator's bid to boost data consumption among consumers, Vodacom has announced the availability of the Smart Tab 3G - its branded tablet device that will be available in SA tomorrow.
The 7-inch device runs the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and is available on prepaid for R999, while its contract rate is R59 per month on a 500MB 24 month price plan. This includes 500MB to use any time and an additional 500MB of data between midnight and 5am. The prepaid device comes with 100MB of data each month for the first three months.
Phil Patel, Vodacom's chief commercial officer, said the company noted a "massive gap" around a year ago in the local device market, with the cheaper devices lacking in technical quality. "The smartphones and tablets on offer were either prohibitively expensive or cheap and badly specced.
"We sketched out what we thought the ideal specifications were for South Africa, and using the purchasing power of Vodafone's global device team, we were able to have the device manufactured at a price point that works out at R2 per day," he said.
He said the company would work to bring down data costs, while working to improve smart device penetration. Speaking about the company's strategy to bridge the digital divide, Patel said: "Introducing high-quality, low-priced devices is just one leg of our three-part strategy to connect South Africa.
"The first leg is the network itself - we're investing R9 billion acrossSouth Africathis year to expand both the reach and quality of our coverage. This means making sure that we have 3G coverage everywhere we have 2G and beefing up our systems to handle the huge data growth we see in the cities and townships".
"Next, we've been working hard to make data more affordable, and on average our data prices is down 30% on last year, which is a big achievement given the increase things like electricity and fuel which are also our input costs. Finally, there's the devices themselves. The Smart Kicka and now the Smart Tab 3G are specifically designed to bridge the affordability gap with the right mix of full-functionality and low cost."
Device specs
The Smart Tab 3G weighs 275 grams and features a 960 x 540 TFTcapacitive touch screen display, a 2MP rear-facing camera for pictures and video, and 0.3MP front-facing camera for video calls and selfies. The device's 4GB of memory is expandable up to 32GB via micro-SD card, while it is also WiFi enabled and also has Zulu language support.
The Smart Tab 3G is the second Vodacom branded device to be launched in SA. In August, Vodacom launched the entry-level smartphone called the Vodacom Smart Kicka. In the first two months since launch almost a quarter of a million of these devices have been sold, clearly demonstrating that South Africa has a strong appetite for well-priced, well specced devices.
Vodacom plans to introduce another own-branded device before the end of the year.
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