• What we do
  • The People
  • About Us
  • Why Innovation Africa
  • Contact Us
Innovation AfricaCreating the Future Today
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • 7 African Mobile Phone Service Tariffs and Bundles

    June 3, 2014 Editor 0

    mobiles

    Across Africa, telecom operators have started bundling voice, SMS, and data services to maintain revenues in light of the increasing popularity of VoIP and mobile messaging services. A Research ICT Africa Policy Brief, predominantly focused on South Africa, examines how mobile operators are developing new pricing strategies to retain subscribers. There has been a trend in African telcoms markets towards data offerings as better infrastructure and devices become available.

    The demand for data is increasing and operators must keep prices reasonable to grow their subscriber base in ever-competitive markets. In recent months, mobile operators at least eight African countries have introduced prepaid bundle services. Bundled prepaid packages can now be found in:

    • Angola: Movicel
    • Cameroon: Orange
    • Egypt: Mobinil, Etisalat, Vodafone
    • Tanzania: Airtel, Benson, Tigo, Vodafone, ZTL
    • Namibia: TN Mobile, MTC
    • Kenya: Orange, Yu, Airtel
    • South Africa: MTN, Cell C

    However, in many cases the bundles are more expensive than the cheapest product in the country. In Tanzania, Cameroon, and Namibia, the new bundle tariffs are actually the cheapest mobile prepaid product. It comes as no surprise that Research ICT Africa finds the dominant operator to usually offer the cheapest product. Many exceptions exist among the 42 mobile baskets in question (just look at Kenya and South Africa), but it makes sense that the dominant operator would have the scale needed to offer lower mobile tariffs.

    Notably, prepaid mobile voice/SMS prices continued to decline in South Africa (to USD4.85 for the cheapest product in Q1 2014) but still are more expensive than the cheapest in Africa (Vodafone Egypt and Zain Sudan have options from the dominant operator for around USD2.80). Moreover, it is interesting to note that a non-dominant (perhaps the second largest?) mobile operator in Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, and Madagascar offers an approximately 60% cheaper equivalent product than the dominant operator.

    Such a vast price disparity is surprising, but pricing doesn’t take into account factors like network coverage and reliability. The following table summarizes the cheapest mobile product in nearly every African nation as of Q1 2014. Dominant and cheapest operator are given as well. These prices are not the end-all, but they attempt to allow a cross-country comparison of mobile prices.

    Above all, notice the extreme variance in pricing between the top and bottom of the list (from USD2.77 in Egypt to USD31.57 in Cape Verde).

    Source: “Shift from just-voice services: African markets gearing for internet,” Research ICT Africa, April 2014.


    Go to Source

    Related Posts

    • Apply for $140,000 GSMA mWomen Innovation Fund GrantsApply for $140,000 GSMA mWomen Innovation Fund Grants
    • Technology Questions Every CMO Must AskTechnology Questions Every CMO Must Ask
    • The Vital Entrepreneurial Learning Organization: A Corporate Mindset for Entrepreneurial Change ManagementThe Vital Entrepreneurial Learning Organization: A Corporate Mindset for Entrepreneurial Change Management
    • What are the emerging markets for mobile payments in EAWhat are the emerging markets for mobile payments in EA
    • Rethinking SME Finance Policy – harnessing technology and innovationRethinking SME Finance Policy – harnessing technology and innovation
    • Orange on the Verge of exiting several African markets, starting with UgandaOrange on the Verge of exiting several African markets, starting with Uganda
    Sovrn
    Share

    Categories: ICT

    Tags: Business_Finance, mobile technology, Mobile telephony in Africa, Prepaid mobile phone, Technology_Internet, Vodafone

    The Origins of Discovery-Driven Planning What’s the Best IT Equipment to Use in Harsh Environments?

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe to our stories


 

Recent Posts

  • SL Crowd Green Solutions September 21, 2020
  • Digital transformation in the banking sector: surveys exploration and analytics August 3, 2020
  • Why Let Others Disrupt You? Take the Smart Self-Disruption Journey! August 3, 2020
  • 5 Tips for Crowdfunding During the Pandemic August 3, 2020
  • innovation + africa; +639 new citations August 3, 2020

Categories

Archives

Popular Post-All time

  • A review on biomass-based... 0.9k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt ge... 669 views
  • Prize-winning projects pr... 646 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 602 views
  • Test Your Value Propositi... 523 views

Recent Posts

  • SL Crowd Green Solutions
  • Digital transformation in the banking sector: surveys exploration and analytics
  • Why Let Others Disrupt You? Take the Smart Self-Disruption Journey!
  • 5 Tips for Crowdfunding During the Pandemic
  • innovation + africa; +639 new citations
  • SME Innovation: 10 Priorities for Support Post-COVID-19 
  • Africa RISING Annual Progress Report 2018 – 2019 now available
  • Fodder beet feed supplementation delivers dairy success for Ethiopian farmers
  • Using theory of change for outcome-oriented research
  • Africa RISING partners publish soil fertility management guidebook

Tag Cloud

    africa African Agriculture Business Business model Business_Finance Company Crowdsourcing data Development East Africa economics Education Entrepreneur entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship ethiopia ghana Health_Medical_Pharma ict Information technology Innovation kenya knowledge Knowledge Management Leadership marketing mobile Mobile phone nigeria Open innovation Organization Research rwanda science Science and technology studies social enterprise social entrepreneurship south africa Strategic management strategy tanzania Technology Technology_Internet uganda

Categories

Archives

  • A review on biomass-based hydrogen production for renewable energy supply 0.9k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality? 669 views
  • Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments 646 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Your Big Data Innovations in Agriculture 602 views
  • Test Your Value Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup and CustDev Principles 523 views

Copyright © 2005-2020 Innovation Africa Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org