MTN this morning launched what it claims is a world-first concept - the MTN Zone. The prepaid per-second billing product offers prepaid subscribers discounts ranging from 5% to 95%, depending on the time of day and their location.
This is according to MTN consumer segment GM Donovan Smith, who spoke at the launch this morning. According to Smith, customers will benefit from higher discounts when the base station they are connecting to experiences lower traffic volumes.
Instead of paying R2.89 per minute at peak and R1.99 per minute at off-peak times, MTN Zone customers will be charged a flat rate of R2.50, less whatever discount applies per the time of day and their location. This means calls made at peak hours are already discounted under the initiative. The discounts are only applicable to MTN to MTN voice calls.
The expected benefits to MTN, says Smith, are an increased customer base, reduced churn, re-activation of dormant customers, and increased network traffic.
"We hope this won't be at a congested time; rather we hope that this will help to flatten out usage, and thus result in an increased service quality." He notes that South African customers have a legacy of waiting for the 8pm off-peak time to make calls, resulting in heavy congestion at this time of day.
So far, MTN has signed two million of its current customers onto the product, and says it is adding between 50 000 and 60 000 people per day. MTN Zone was launched to MTN prepaid customers on 1 December. As of today, it will be launched to its competitors' customer bases.
Customers will be informed of the changing tariffs via the cell info display on their phones, and via an automated message that will appear on their handsets as they set up a call. Discounts are updated hourly, and are dependent on congestion at the time.
Customers retain whatever discount they made the call at, irrespective of whether they stay in that cell for the duration of the call. MTN subscribers can activate MTN Zone by sending a message to the operator. New subscribers can buy prepaid packages and then activate their Zone subscription.
Share