By Catherine Sasman
WINDHOEK
Cell One celebrated its first birthday on Sunday, blazing a trail of competitive products and an aggressive marketing campaign to offer more choice to mobile users in Namibia.
The company received its mobile licence in August 2006, and is now able to provide services to close to 70 percent of the country, and is available in all regions, said Dr, Leake Hangala, Cell One’s Director of Corporate Strategy.
“The population will appreciate the competition Cell One has brought,” said Hangala, breaking the monopoly of MTC of 12 years.
Celebrating its birthday, said Hangala, the company has introduced a 85-cents-rate a minute facility to its clients. It has also introduced free SMSs on Fridays and has reduced its international rates by 33 percent.
This reduction, which came into effect last Wednesday, is applicable to all Cell One customers (pre-paid and post-paid) making calls to fixed or mobile lines.
To strengthen its competitive edge in the market, the company has this week signed a least cost routing (LCR) distribution agreement with TelePassport.
This agreement allows Cell One to use the LCR technology through which fixed or landline calls made to a mobile phone can be converted into a cell-to-cell call, guaranteeing monetary savings of up to 40 percent for corporate companies.
The smart partnership agreement between the two companies would offer competitive rates to landline users when calling to the Cell One network, said Hangula.
TelePassport have been instrumental in introducing the LCR concept to the corporate communications market since 2005, said the Managing Director of the company, Phillip Stier.
“With the signing of the LCR agreement, voice calls destined to Cell One will be routed directly to the Cell One network,” explained Stier.
This means that all voice calls made from a landline will be charged as a Cell One to Cell One call.
“This is obviously much more cost effective,” Stier said, adding, “Every bit of savings helps in today’s tough economic climate and we are proud to have been part of such a savings venture.”