Thread: Talking about mobile phone providers in Namibia

Anyone has access to the newest addition to the Telecoms price war in the form of NEPRUS price tracking initiative? Any comments on this as well?

I use another provider dear ... switch to this one ... Talk-Talk, its cheap, reliable and fast.

# Fast broadband: up to 8Meg
# Generous 40GB download allowance
# Unlimited local calls, anytime
# FREE technical & customer support
# FREE wireless 'G' router

Cost: N$ 72.00 /month

I suggest you switch now.

Cheers

TalkTalk uses the UK's biggest next generation network (covering 85% of the UK)

With your predeliction for sweet stuff you may have forgotten some brain food.............because this post is as irrelevant to Namibia as your usual inanities!

Geography does not seem to be your strong point, my boy!

Quote from New Era - 14 December 2009

Calls for cellular tariffs regulation - by Desie Heita
WINDHOEK – Swords are drawn in the telecommunication sector, this time over the cost of calls between the three mobile networks, with half of the sector asking for price regulation to counter the dominant influence of the powerful players in the mobile communication sector.

Executives within the communication sector told New Era that the current row has irked the first mobile network operator, MTC, which feels the current war of words is an attempt to saturate its competitive edge in the market and prop up the two network operators with smaller numbers of active subscribers, a process that would have MTC losing millions of dollars in annual revenue.

The fight is over what is described as termination rates, the costs which mobile operators charge consumers for receiving calls from different networks, as well as the off-net rate which is the per minute cost consumers pay for a call between two different networks.

The Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit (Nepru) heightened the row with its policy brief paper that called for price regulation in the industry.

“Regulatory interventions addressing retail price regulation may be required to ensure that market dominance is not being misused,” said Dr Christoph Stork, who authored the Nepru policy briefing paper.

The paper singled out MTC for not changing the prices on calls emanating from and taking place between different networks.

The communication regulator, Namibia Communications Commission (NCC), reduced the termination rates in July this year from N$1.06 to N$0.60. Although Leo and Telecom’s Switch changed prices, MTC only made changes in its Tango per second billing product.

New Era understands that MTC would lose about N$70 million in earnings because of the reduced termination rates. MTC declined to comment on the figure when approached for comment.

Nepru says only two mobile operators reacted accordingly, with Leo redesigning its products and Telecom’s Switch reducing the rates of calling on the other two different networks.

Stork suggests that NCC introduces a mandatory per second billing on all products for the three network operators, because “it is a fairer billing system and makes it easier to control expenditure for the poor”.

The think tank says MTC only adjusted termination rates on Tango’s per second billing product, while customers using other MTC products still experience higher costs when calling Leo or Switch networks.

The briefing paper has MTC piqued, saying the report is biased because it omitted crucial facts. These facts, says MTC’s Head of Corporate Services, Albertus Aochamub, include free minutes per day and an hour of free calling given to customers using other products besides Tango’s per second billing.

“[Stork] has totally ignored to consider the value-added benefits MTC is offering customers using other products [besides Tango per second billing],” says Aochamub.

In a statement, MTC says that Stork’s paper is a marketing ploy “to get further work with the NCC”.

New Era understands that part of the reason why MTC is annoyed is because the first mobile network operator feels the reduction of termination rates was a bullying tactic to give competitive advantage to other two mobile operators, Leo and Switch, who have by far fewer active subscribers.

Stork recommended that the NCC “start a public discussion process similar to the Interconnection; start a process by requesting formal comments from operators, [as well as] issue a recommendation to operators for per second billing.”

Stork says “though a recommendation is not binding, it may lead to the desired effect in combination with competitive pressure”.

Love the way MTC not making such a BIG PROFIT is going to hurt consumers:

MTC loses N$100 million due to lower Mobile Termination Rates - Economist 27 November 2009

Namibia’s biggest mobile phone operator, MTC has made a loss of N$100 million after the Namibian Communications Commission (NCC) forced the mobile phone industry to reduce Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) from N$1.06 to N$0.60. MTR is the rate mobile operators charge each other to receive calls from each other’s customers.
“We have already suffered a revenue loss in excess of N$100 million with the drop of rates from N$1.06 to N$0.60.When that rate drops to N$0.30 by January 2011, we will see a further drop in revenue from interconnect.

The natural reaction has been to slow down our intended investments, prioritise our social responsibility programmes and cut costs there and so forth. Who loses? The Namibian consumer, because we will now not bring to market the latest and smartest solutions as fast as we would have done. We will also be protecting the revenue we have at present and grow our bottom-line in the interest of shareholder value retention,” Albertus Aochamub general manager: corporate services told the Economist.

Aochamub, on the basis of a consultant’s report, which he said MTC did not agree with, the NCC as the regulator chose to drop the rates very radically contrary to global trends.
“The real intent was to protect leo and Telecom whose businesses are bleeding due to poor choices they have made in the past. MTC gets penalized for being efficiently run whilst others are rewarded for poor choices,” Aochamub said. Namibia will have the lowest MTR charges in SADC by January 2011.

Aochamub explained that the correlation between MTR and retail (consumer) prices is a weak one. “Dropping MTR’s does not necessarily make final prices lower because the final prize is a function of a complex set of variables inclusive of the termination rates,” he said.
“leo for instance chose to be the cheapest in the Namibian market hoping that MTC will enter a price war, which we know they cannot win. MTC, on the other hand, has opted to offer more value for your dollar spent. You give peanuts, you get monkeys,” he said.
MTC’s subscribers have grown from 1 million a year ago to 1.3 million in September, this year, according to figures released by the company this week.
MTC also plans to spend N$750 million over the next two years in expanding its network.

Dr. A. Aochamub. PhD: Spindoctoring (UZ: Harare) - Sponsor: Dr. J. Moyo

I was able to experience first hand the difference between MTC and leoTM......MTC couldn't care less, since they have the upper hand in the market....their service is really impersonal, as if to say, we already made it, we don't care what you think....whilst LeoTM is still compassionate about service.....guess the indefferent type of individual is in abundance at MTC frontline than LeoTM frontline come to think of it!!

I cannot complain about MTC. Have had my mobile (no! NOT the same model! lol!) since 1994 and have never had any trouble that could not be solved.

...and the saga continues, It is now very clear that MTC is haphazardly copying leo product innovations, while MTC as usual followed suit with the leo50 and prepaid leo business lite, they failed to bring the benefits of a contract to those who prefer no strings attached or cannot get contracts considering there are a myriad of individuals with economic muscle who are either part time workers, entrepreneurs, foreigners who have been living in Namibia who cannot always agree to the deposit terms they have to live with when taking out a contract, taxi drivers, you name them....These products provides for tariff structures that allow the user to utilise any local network for the same/flat rate of .99c per minute and much cheaper 2.50 to some foreign networks per minute. This basically means that onnet prepaid MTC rates are higher (MTC to MTC) than leo to MTC, leo to leo, leo to Telecom, etc....WOW hey..

leo reaches those masses with it's product innovation!!! interesting, perhaps MTC infrastructure do not allow them the luxury of reaching ALL Namibians afterall? What do shebeeners think?