It had to happen sooner or later; After more than a year Econet is finally retiring its Buddie Bundles of Joy promotion, hot on the heels of a reduction in voice tariffs.
Despite their ridiculous terms and conditions and the fact that they weren’t as nearly as competitive as Telecel voice promotions, the Buddie Bundles of Joy had actually become one of the more consistent promotions (they were adjusted once or twice though) from Econet Wireless that actually stretched the subscriber’s dollar.
Regarding the lowered tariffs, Econet was actually late in confirming its tariffs cut. Its two competitors Telecel and NetOne had already gone on to notify subscribers of this adjustment.
Econet made the announcement regarding the Buddie Bundles of Joy today on social media and its not surprising that it was mentioned together with the POTRAZ directed tariff reduction. Promotions on voice and data bundles are based on current tariffs so this seems like a logical consequence. Oddly enough data tariff adjustments weren’t mentioned.
NetOne and Telecel however haven’t made any such announcements on any of their different voice promotions such as the NetOne Dollar A Day promo or the any of the Telecel voice promotions that have given it a distinction as the cheapest network.
All this might be attributed to the fact that these two networks have been competing with Econet on price differentiation. Econet on the other hand, made a firm statement about how it would focus less on price and more on service quality as a competing factor.
Despite the reports of Econet approaching the courts to challenge the directive from the regulator everyone expected Econet to play by the rules. Regulation on tariff structure, like all POTRAZ directives can’t be skirted. Whatever comes out of any legal action will take a back seat to the cheaper voice calls that subscribers are now enjoying.
It goes without saying that these new tariffs mean the restructuring of the various promotions we have seen from our country’s MNOs in the past year. It will be worth the watch to see what sort of adjustments will be made to other voice and data products that the MNOs have been offering.
What sort of voice and data promotions are you expecting from Econet and the other MNOs?
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12 comments
I see Telecel have since dropped their promo on international calls. The Econet move isn’t surprising. Users will cheer the tariff cut but it, conversely, means MNOs will now offer progressively less promos. Tariffs are down but their costs, really, have not declined significantly. Power, credit, etc. Good forcustomes, but I can’t help but wonder what this will mean to the future profitability of the industry.
I really don’t know how to express my opinion, except to say is this not a little reminiscent of price control? My experience with the Zimway on price controls demand that I hope for divine intervention.
You need to read more. Regulatory bodies do this, WORLD OVER.
potraz might be digging its hand far too deep, hopefully they also reducing licensing fees correspondingly. zim is currently expensive to run business, these firms are hard pressed.
This is precisely what worries me about the press coverage so far. I guess it’s understandable; everyone is a customer. But will license fees also come down? And will MNOs get tax breaks for building own infrastructure (eg power lines, roads) in order to bring service? Regulators worldwide do indeed intervene on proce, but they do so with some consideration to ops environment.
Has the landline operator TelOne and other operators like Africom also been ordered to reduce their tariffs or this only affects MNOs only as per the article?
still way too expensive. I don’t know why Zimbos celebrate being screwed
As compared to what? I have been to RSA, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia but the costs are almost the same as ours if not hire!
why are you all concerned about mno profits. they made plenty money easily already. now they have to work for it.
zimbabwe was among the top 5 most expensive countries when it comes to telecoms rates. Stop displaying your ignorance by comparing rates with richer countries. Educate yourself on Economics before displaying your Ignorance
…But if I educate myself I won’t have any ignorance to display 🙁
Considering that its now expensive to be on whatsapp, I do not feel that the reduction in the costs of calls benefits us in the long run. The joy of unlimited whatsaap bundles was twofold in that you could make unlimited downloads as well as enjoy uninterrupted whatsapp service for a period up to a month for just 3 dollars. I dnt think the benefits of having call tarrifs reduced will accrue to the same benefits people enjoyed over these bundles