UM, GPRS soon, but no WAP, says Cell C

Johannesburg, 01 Nov 2001

Cell C has confirmed that per-second billing and unified messaging will be some of its draw cards when it launches in mid-November, and that differentiated geographic tariffs are a possibility. But not all these services will be launched immediately.

"People don`t know what unified messaging is and you have to educate them first," says Paul Doany, chief advisor to the company. "At first we want to tell them who we are and why they should change [to us]."

The phased roll-out of initial services should be complete by February next year, he says, by which time "subscribers will have access to any services offered here or internationally". Unified messaging is one of those.

Like both MTN and Vodacom, Cell C does not intend to launch GPRS services soon, although its network is being built ready to accommodate it. Doany says earlier estimates of a launch in the third quarter of next year still hold, but this could change subject to market conditions and demand.

One thing Cell C will not be pushing heavily is Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). All of the SIM cards it issues to subscribers will be 32k versions. Such cards allow two-way SMS-based communication through applications contained on the SIM itself. A number of local banks and other service providers already support wireless Internet gateway (WIG) transactions based on 32k SIMs.

Doany says WIG and similar services will stand instead of WAP for Cell C until the advent of GPRS, which will see a fundamental shift in the way transactions are handled.

Very little emphasis is to be put on data services anyway, as Cell C does not believe mobile data will be a particularly profitable field.

In terms of handset subsidies, Cell C is expected to go much the same route as MTN and Vodacom, subsidising most of the cost of phones for contracted subscribers.

The company is loath to admit the existence of HomeZone, a product thought to be based on geographically differentiated pricing, but would not deny that it or something similar existed. In essence, HomeZone will mean that subscribers pay less for calls made through one particular base station in the area they define as their home.

Full details of the packages and tariffs on offer are to be released on 15 November, two days before the official launch of the service.