This past weekend, I received at least seven phone calls from cousins who rarely phone me. They were not phoning to inform me of a wedding or funeral of a close relative - usually the only reason they would phone me at all. They phoned to chat, because they're Cell C subscribers and, thanks to the company's new free weekend calls offer, they could.
It felt weird, having long, social conversations with people who, to date, only phoned to give me bad news. I kept checking the clock to see how long I'd been on the line, having to remind myself that the length of the call didn't matter. I was not going to run out of airtime, and I was certainly not going to be stuck with a huge phone bill for the calls.
The first few minutes of the conversations were predictable and inane. "Can you believe it? You can talk for free on weekends!"
Not quite!
Subscribers have to buy airtime during the week to qualify for the free weekend calls. Postpaid subscribers only qualify for free weekend calls when they've gone through their monthly airtime allocation. Still, it's a good deal for prepaid subscribers, who can spread their airtime purchases throughout the month and schedule most of their calls for weekends.
In the short-term, Cell C benefits from revenue from weekly airtime purchases. There was a certain level of frustration among my relatives on the Cell C network that they couldn't phone relatives on the Vodacom and MTN networks for free. So there were suggestions they buy new SIM cards or port to Cell C so everyone is on the same network, a move which would benefit the company in the medium-term.
New type of user
Through this deal, Cell C is creating a new-generation residential subscriber - someone who uses a mobile phone for more than just imparting bad news.
Damaria Senne, senior journalist, ITWeb
But MTN and Vodacom subscribers enjoy a number of benefits Cell C can't match. There is a hope the cellular giants will offer similar deals, perhaps even across networks. So there is a watch-and-wait attitude.
The most interesting development for me was watching how my nine-year-old daughter and her friends used their phones. Mine is on a R50 a month, 24-month contract, which essentially got her a cheap handset and makes her accessible when she's playing at a friend's house. Her reaction to the free weekend offer was: "Now I can speak to my friends on the phone any time I want on weekends."
I can also imagine a number of teens with ears glued to their handsets most of the weekend, talking to friends, making plans and sharing gossip.
Through this deal, Cell C is creating a new-generation residential subscriber - someone who uses a mobile phone for more than just imparting bad news. It's creating a user who is accustomed to unlimited access (albeit within certain parameters) and will use the phone more frequently when the opportunity arises.
This user will grow up taking mobile phone access for granted, which bodes well for Cell C's future average revenue per user. That is, unless Vodacom and MTN come up with matching or better offers, which would be good for all South African mobile users but dilute the benefit for the company that came up with the idea.
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