By far the best deal to be had on the Samsung Mini S5 is from Telkom Mobile, which offers the lowest cost for the phone when the additional offerings bundled with the deal are stripped out.
Samsung this week said the mini had officially arrived in SA, and suggested a selling price of R6 699. SA's big four operators have all put seemingly enticing deals on the table, with monthly deals ranging in price from R339 to R469 if customers want to be locked in for two years.
However, getting into a contract could prove costly for customers, with both MTN and Vodacom's deals working out to be more expensive than Samsung's recommended price when the bundles are stripped out.
SA's mobile duopoly seems to be making a profit on the handset, says BMI-TechKnowledge director Brian Neilson, noting this will depend on their cost as they will buy in larger volumes and save money.
Neilson explains Vodacom and MTN's effective handset prices, when the bundles are normalised to get closer to operators' costs, are still higher than the other two and come in about 20% higher than Samsung's recommended price.
Cell C, however, comes in at around the same price as Samsung, while Telkom is about 10% cheaper than Samsung, showing it is subsiding the handset, says Neilson. This seems to indicate Telkom Mobile is sacrificing margin in a bid to entice more users onto its network, especially in data - which is the current revenue driver for operators, he says.
Telkom Mobile's deal is at R399 a month for two years, and comes with 150MB of data, and 100 voice minutes, while both Cell C and Vodacom charge R399 a month over two years for their cheapest offering.
MTN, conversely, comes in at R469 a month over two years, bundling 300MB and 100 minutes along with the handset.
The bulk of South African subscribers - around 55 million out of 70 million active SIM cards - are on prepaid contracts. However, the churn in this segment is very high and it offers no security of annuity income for operators.
Deals at a glance:
Operator | Cell C | MTN | Vodacom | Telkom Mobile |
Contract cost (24 months) | R399 | R469 | R399 | R339 |
Minutes | 50 | 100 | 75 | 100 |
Data | 1GB + 2GB | 300MB | 200MB | 150MB |
Share
