Vodacom's latest salvo in the prepaid cellular price war, of R1.70 billed per-second, is the most effective rate, says independent telecommunications management expense company DataRoom.
Yesterday, SA's largest mobile network operator introduced a new AllDay tariff of R1.40 billed per-minute, or R1.70 billed per-second, irrespective of the network called.
The new rates are seen as a response to last week's announcements made by the country's newest cellular network operator, Telkom's 8ta.
DataRoom's latest analysis says Vodacom has responded competitively to Cell C's and 8ta's per-minute package offering, and it is the most cost-effective rate compared to per-minute packages for calls to mobile.
“The claim of 'lowest per-minute prepaid rate' is correct for the rate to mobile, but not to fixed-line. The rate to fixed-line on 8ta is substantially more cost-effective (65c compared to R1.40),” says Heidi Gouws, DataRoom's national sales manager.
She says Vodacom is also being transparent about the billing increments. This is done by offering billing increments for every 30 seconds after the first 60 seconds, as opposed to every minute on its per-minute offering.
“The resultant rate will be more cost-effective than the Cell C Easychat Allday and 8ta rates to mobile,” Gouws says.
DataRoom says the 8ta SMS offering and the rate of 65c for national are still clearly far better than the Vodacom AllDay per minute, Cell C Easychat AllDay and 8ta.
Gouws says consumers need to analyse their individual call patterns and make a decision based on what is best for them.
“We always encourage clients to select per-second packages to ensure you always only pay for what you use,” she explains.
The exception, Gouws says, to the above statement, is 8ta's rate of 65c to fixed-line.
“The rate is substantially lower than the other providers' rates, and even with 8ta's per-minute billing, will be more cost-effective overall for calls terminating to fixed-line,” she says.
Click here to see a comparison table of cellular rates.
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