MTN and Vodacom will increase the rates on some of their packages from Monday, when their annual increases come into effect. Most of the increases are small and both operators are introducing new concepts in apparent anticipation of Cell C`s November launch.
The operators are also selectively changing to per-second billing, each for two of their existing packages, while Vodacom intends launching a new per-second billed prepaid service.
MTN`s basic packages will see increases of between 0.05% and 5.77%, but the prices of fax and data services are to increase in the region of 10% across the board. These services saw no increase last year as ICASA, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, denied MTN`s request for increases mostly in excess of 100%.
Vodacom`s basic packages will see increases of between 0.4% and 8.8%, but the per-unit price for cellular-to-cellular calls during off-peak times will increase from 75c to 84c across all its packages. The operator says the changes have been necessitated by a new interconnect agreement with Telkom, details of which are secret.
MTN subscribers will pay 91c per unit for similar off-peak calls to Cell C and Vodacom users, while calls in the same timeslot, but between two MTN users, will be charged at 85c.
Vodacom is already widely advertising a prepaid service billed per second, branded as "4U cellular". The ad campaign touts the broader choice and control over spending the package is to offer consumers, similar to the strategy Cell C is expected to use when it launches.
MTN has opted for simplified packages, saying there is a public need to understand their cellular spending better. It plans to launch both consumer and business versions of what is provisionally called "the more you talk the less you pay". The concept will see users pay a single flat rate across all calls, to MTN, Vodacom or Telkom numbers and for both voice and data calls, all of which are charged at different rates for traditional packages. When users of the new packages reach a certain threshold of calls in a month, all subsequent calls will be charged at a lower rate.
The service will come with a R50 monthly subscription fee for consumers and R165 for business users, and will form part of MTN`s plans to phase out packages such as its Anytime Off-Peak, Prime Time, Pulse and Sharetime packages.
MTN`s ICASA filing also reveals its rate plans for the unified messaging systems both cellular operators are expected to implement some time next year, and with which Cell C is likely to launch. MTN says text-to-speech conversion on such a system will initially be offered free of charge, but that a charge will be levied for it "at a future date once the technology has been implemented to charge the subscriber for such conversions".
ICASA has approved all the proposed tariffs by both companies and all changes will be effective from 1 October.
Share