By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
WINDHOEK
The level of competition in the mobile phone market is noticeably heating up, with new entrant Cell One seemingly prepared to enter into gloves-off open warfare with entrenched player MTC.
For consumers, this is all good news because the benefits of competition in the mobile phone market might finally flow through to the Namibian public.
The battle for market share has begun and Cell One makes no bones about the fact that it is competing on price.
This has brought about the lowest mobile call rates ever in Namibia’s history.
Cell One has flooded the media with advertisements for new and attractive offers on an almost daily basis.
In a recent interview, Chief Marketing Officer at Cell One, Ivar Talmoen, spoke about some of the company’s new products.
One of its newest offerings is a 24-hour free SMS service on Fridays, during which users can send as many free SMS as they want free of charge. The free SMS offer is valid until the end of November.
The company currently offers call rates of half a cent per second, effectively meaning charges of 30 cents a minute.
“That’s the best offer Namibians have ever received in their history,” Talmoen said.
The company does not differentiate between calls made from a Cell One phone to an MTC or Telecom Namibia fixed-line phone.
Cell One charges a flat rate of four cents a second or N$2.40 a minute, to both MTC and fixed line phones.
The Cell One call rate of four cents a second stays the same regardless of the time of day, with no peak, off-peak and off off-peak rates.
“If there is no reason for us to say no, we will say yes,” Talmoen said.
This means the company will allow customers to recharge for as little as N$1, and make miscalls for only 10 cents.
The equivalent MTC rates from one MTC phone to another MTC phone, according to the company’s website, are N$2,50 at peak hours, N$1,18 off-peak and N$0,96 during off off-peak hours.
MTC can however select per-second billing at six cents per second, which only comes out cheaper as long as users keep their calls short.
If you calculate, six cents a second amounts to N$3,60 a minute, which is not particularly cheap.
The rates for MTC to fixed line phones are N$3.35 during peak hours, N$2,35 off-peak and N$1,95 off off-peak, or six cents per minute using the per-second billing option.
MTC Tango users can now however select a new slightly more attractive offer by dialling 134, offering its lowest call rates on MTC to MTC calls.
This special offer allows users to make calls for N$1,80 between 10 am and 10 pm and N$1 between 10 pm and 10 am.
Cell One is currently engaged in a major marketing drive at the Ongwediva Trade Fair.
The company offers Trade Fair visitors a variety of phones at a 50 percent discount.
It offers the Motorola C119 for N$279, and the colour screen Motorola W208 for N$349, both including starter packs with N$14 airtime.
In addition, the company says it is offering several other Nokia, Samsung and Alcatel phones at highly discounted prices at the fair, all including starter packs with N$14 airtime.
Cell One has also put up N$50 000 in airtime divided into prizes for Trade Fair visitors that buy products worth at least N$50 from the company.
The company will hold five draws a day to select winners of the airtime.
The mobile operator is also holding auditions for its Cell One Road to Fame talent competition at Bennie’s Entertainment Park in Ongwediva.
Organisers held auditions on Monday, which continued on Tuesday and today.
Talmoen said the aim of the competition is to give Namibians a chance to become stars.
Cell One will hold auditions both locally in Windhoek and regionally, culminating in a national competition in the finals with one representative from each region to select the winner.
The company will sponsor the winner for the next three years, to help the artist establish his or her career.