When Brodacom started the advertising campaign for its new voice and data services last week, we reported on a number of products it’s likely to be launch that we saw on the company website, www.brodacom.com. Unfortunately the website was taken down soon after and replaced with some “Website coming soon” text, so currently, information on Brodacom’s new services is hard to get save for the few press adverts and physically going to the Spiritage offices in Harare.
Going to the Spiritage offices physically is what we had to do to get the tariffs for below. The tariffs are basically the same as what was published by Valley Technologies back in April.
There’s no deliberate mention of mobile broadband tariffs on the table. We basically tried to reproduce exactly what we got from Brodacom. We imagine you have questions. We do too; like if “Voice: Brodacom – Other” includes tariffs to TelOne fixed lines. We’re going to try to find out this and other information.
And here’s a little comparison with Brodacom’s competitors.
The voice tariffs are generally identical to Africom’s.
I have two questions, (1) Is the cost of skype – skype or Gtalk, cheaper than ordinary calls, considering that both users are charged data. 2) How much bandwith does these services use like per second or similar measure??.
Your contributions will be appreciated. (thinking of video calling my parents from my outpost. kikiki)
@KuraiMGT: we recently did a comparision test using an iPhone 4 over an mobile connection and it turns out that a video call (having both visual and audio) for 1 min c@twitter-190948683:disqus cost 7c.
So the long and short of it is that free VIOP services (G-talk, Skype,etc) are still cheaper than what local networks are charging!!!
Great stuff. I think that’s the way to go for me. kikikiki. The audio quality seem similar to ordinary cell phones.Downside though, have to invest in capable phones. But eish, it must be cheaper in the longer term
The data charges are ridiculous. There are essentially about 4 times as much as ZOL. #smfh
they lost it out on economic feasibility
i once told them these guys
many pple have felt 3g bt u already introducin 4g
wich is still on trial in developed countries
pure maddness
Brodacom is dead in the water
its absolute bullshit
we donn need 4g fo nw
so far we have been given raw deal on 3g
honestly ive never experianced real 3g rather edge and gprs
Interesting how their individual unlimited data plans need enterprise level incomes! Looks like I’m stuck with my trusty old internet cafe for a while longer
1GB for $95, Brodacom, l bet your customers will be only your CEOs, workers and relatives. How did they come up with such ridiculous charges? What justifies them? Are they directly connected to undersea fibre optics so that they can guarantee a 1million percent fast connection?
Otherwise they can stick there broadband where sun and poor Zim people never troop.
dude ths company is jus econet tht have faile with their stupid 3g
nw wanna try to lie to pple abt 4g
pure maddness
I think the main problem is that Zim service providers rely on Profit margins as opposed to volumes. The Zimbabwean market of only 1.4million internet users has not grown big enough to allow for low prices that take advantage of massive Economies Of Scale. Instead we rely on gaining perhaps 50 000 subscribers and charging them high fees that allow us to pay fixed costs and still make a profit. Instead if we adopted a model that charges a 1/4 of the price and attract eight times the number of original subscribers we will still be able to break even and perhaps make larger profits. Powertel has to an extent succeded in this regard consideriring that they have been forced by sheer volumes to expand their networks, at the moment demand for their service succeeds supply. The paradox however, is that as volumes increase service quality due to congestion deteriorates. Significantly still, only a few of our consumers have enough disposable income to pay for these services so we are stuck with a smaller subscriber base which in turn push prices up while quality remains high. The balance is indeed a fine one. Selling five apples for $10 each is less profitable (albeit easier) than selling 600 apples for 1c each .
what more clarification can one ask that this!
“The paradox however, is that as volumes increase service quality due to congestion deteriorates.” That is the key point and in my opinion unless you are a very light user you are wasting your money on the cheap and nasty alternatives, I happily pay 100 a month for a 1 gig connection that lets me dl 40 gig free off peak, stream 480P video and get stable sub 350ms ping times to Europe.
Broadacom…………Broader Pocket………l hope the service will be great coz if its not they should go hang….
Too much focus on short term profits…
why are their prices so similar to the competition?is there some sort of price fixing going on?
Blimey! thought their data prices we gonna be lower than anyones but from the looks of things they are the actually the highest in the market. What a waste..Disappointing.
guys ths is econet playin us fools here
who is goin to buy tht igb at 95buks wen africoom is givin it at 18buks
pure maddness
powertel is givin 50buks unlimited
ths is absolute maddness i can tell u pple
yes it is yo crazy td scdma 4g but is it profitable guys
A BIG NO
so why bother
zimbos don afford ths shit haaa
where is POTRAZ? Or are they in it as well? This madeness needs to be stopped
Which madness
Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried using the so called “4G network”? Any idea what their service is like?