Vodacom has plans to start aggressively attacking the mobile data market, starting with a tariff cut.
According to the group's commercial director, Romeo Khumalo, the company wants to start doing to the data market what it did with pre-paid solutions. Speaking at the unveiling of the much anticipated Blackberry Storm yesterday, he noted that the company was turning to a price proposition.
The company's price shift will be implemented both on the new Research in Motion Blackberry product, as well as the data market in general.
Khumalo noted that Vodacom's plan was to “aggressively” move on the market, with a particular focus on affordability. “The success we had with our pre-paid solution, we want to replicate with mobile Internet,” he added.
Media speculation indicates that the company will be meeting to discuss a possible drop in data tariffs as early as next week.
Vodacom's storm
Vodacom's pre-paid business has done exceptionally well. According to its latest trading statement, in SA alone, the company boosted its pre-paid subscriber base to 22.4 million customers.
This makes up more than 85% of the company's customers, with the contract base sitting at 3.9 million.
The release of the latest Blackberry smart phone is already showing signs of Vodacom's decision to drop rates. According to Khumalo, the R59 per month rate, for access to the blackberry services, which used to be for pre-paid users only, has now become available to contract holders.
Customers hoping to buy the phone without contract subscription will be looking a little bleak, with the Blackberry Storm coming in at R8 500.
For the enterprise, the services have dropped from R138 per month, to R98 per month. Research in Motion (RIM) sub-Saharan Africa director Deon Liebenberg said: “We are basing our predictions of success on the number of Vodacom's users. We are going to drive this through pre-paid.”
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