Consumers welcome telecom data price wars

Jan 26, 2018

This week, telecom companies in Uganda have revised their mobile data offers, in hope of winning over the loyalty of customers.

COMMUNICATION | DATA PRICE WAR

UGANDA - When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, proclaims an African proverb. On the other hand, when telecoms fight over mobile data offers, consumers do not suffer, they rejoice instead.

This week, telecom companies in Uganda have revised their mobile data offers, in hope of winning over the loyalty of customers.

MTN Uganda has revised daily data bundle packages. For sh500, one is able to get 40 megabytes (MB), up from 25MB previously. For sh1,000, you now get 100MB from 60MB previously. For sh2000, one gets 300MB from 125 MB previously.

Airtel Uganda also revised mobile data offers this week. For sh500, one also gets 40MB, from 25MB previously and for sh1,000, one now gets 100MB up from 60MB.

Africell Uganda has increased data bundles by 100%. For sh500, one gets 50MB instead of 25MB previously. For sh1000, one gets 120MB instead of 60MB previously.

MTN Uganda is also involved in a thrilling price war with Africell Uganda for a Wednesday offer, where clients get significantly more data in a special promo. MTN Uganda uses the hashtag #GagaWithMTN to promote the Wednesday offer that gives up to 3GB for as little as sh3,500, Africell Uganda fights back with a hashtag, #DontBeCheated, in a dig at their rivals. Africell Uganda's special Wednesday offer is 3.5GB for sh3500.

Customers have welcomed the changes on the social media spaces of the telecom companies.

Seruzi Alexander, an information and communications technology technician and agricultural consultant, says the competition from telecoms is good as data is still expensive in Uganda.

"I think telecom data prices are still expensive, but competition is driving them to give cheaper data rates. The big question is, have these companies got new data companies to supply cheaper data to them and also decided to return the favour or have they realised that people like cheaper data and are subscribing more to social bundles than the conventional data plans?" he says.

Sulaina Kirabo, an insurance risk adviser has given up on mobile data because of the cost, but if the price wars continue, she may change her mind.

"I stopped using mobile data in 2016 so maybe that would be a great way to win back loyal clients like me. Otherwise, the industry has done a good job of stealing from us," she says.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});