Getting stuck in a 24-month cellphone contract will soon be a thing of the past, as MTN announces plans to launch a "DIY plan" called Shifta.
It will allow customers to create their own postpaid packages by customising the duration, services and devices that suit their needs.
MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati told journalists at a press briefing in Johannesburg yesterday that the new product will give customers the flexibility to choose all of the elements that go into their contracts, including being able to sign up for a one-month contract.
"That we believe is exactly what our customers are looking for: flexibility," said Nyati.
MTN says the idea was in response to customer demands,
"We received a lot of feedback saying our packages are old-fashioned, so this allows the customer to select all of the elements on their own," according to Larry Annetts, MTN SA's chief consumer officer.
"Shifta is something we have been working on for about a year-and-a-half. It is basically a DIY plan," he says.
The online platform uses a similar concept of 'sliders' as online loans platform wonga.com. Customers have a number of 'slider options' to select to make up their overall contract package.
"You can slide how many MTN to MTN minutes you want, how many MTN to other network minutes you want. You can slide how many SMSes and data you want. You also choose how long you want the contract to run for. There is the option of: one, six, 12, 18, 24 or 36 months," says Annetts.
Once the various options have been selected, it builds up to a "subsidy" which shows how much the customer can spend on a range of different phones.
"This means you don't have to just choose a phone that has been pre-bundled for you, but based on the range of phones available, you can take the subsidy built up and put it together with paying for the phone you want."
At the same time, value-added services like insurance and caller ID can be added.
"Our strategy moving forward is to give the customer a lot of power in his own hands," adds Annetts.
MTN hopes to launch the new platform in the next six months.
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