Cell C is launching its own General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) offering - smartdata - for contract subscribers. It provides Internet access to users with GPRS enabled phones and laptops at cheaper rates than its two competitors.
Jim Courtney, Cell C chief commercial officer, says users can choose from standard, personal and professional tariff packages.
The standard package has no subscription fee and users are charged R25 per megabyte downloaded. This is in comparison to MTN`s basic package, which also has no subscription fee and data rates of R50 for the first megabyte and 58 cents per 20 kilobytes (R30 per megabyte) for the second megabyte.
From there onwards, MTN charges 49 cents per 20 kilobytes (R20 per megabyte). Vodacom`s standard package is slightly cheaper than MTN, charging R45 for the first megabyte and 4.5 cents per kilobyte thereafter.
"The introduction of GPRS is in line with our commitment to give our customers the best choice and value for money in the market. Our priority is to ensure our enhanced products and services are customised to meet our customers` lifestyle needs," Courtney says.
The smartdata personal package has a subscription fee of R15, with data charged at R17 per megabyte. The professional package has a subscription fee of R60, with a data charge of R12.50 per megabyte. These are also cheaper than MTN and Vodacom`s subscription packages. As with MTN, data packets are charged per 20 kilobytes of data.
To promote the product, Cell C has offered one free megabyte of data to all subscribers activating their smartdata before 30 September.
There are 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte. A polyphonic ringtone is about five kilobytes in size, an mp3 ringtone takes up around 250 kilobytes and a standard mobile e-mail is approximately seven kilobytes. A user can view 1000 WAP pages per megabyte and around ten web pages with pictures per megabyte.
For more information on Cell C`s GPRS price plans click here.
For MTN click here.
For Vodacom click here.