New MTN EDGE Pricing

Data(MB)---------Vodacom-------MTN
10----------------R 20-----------R 10
50----------------R 95-----------R 90
100---------------R 160----------R 100
200---------------R 250----------R 250
300---------------R 300----------R 400
400---------------R 500----------R 550 (<-- switch to 1GB on MTN)
500---------------R 350----------R 700
600---------------R 550----------R 850 (<-- switch to 1GB on Vodacom)
750---------------R 850----------R 1,075
900---------------R 1,150--------R 1,300
1000--------------R 600----------R 500
2000--------------R 1,200--------R 1,750
3000--------------R 1,800--------R 3,000
10000-------------R 6,000--------R 11,750


Basically if you plan to use 400MB+ at MTN you better buy the 1GB package or you'll be wasting money. With Vodacom you can still go to about 600MB before the need for 1GB kicks in.

The above 1GB scenario looks pretty ugly (for MTN) though.

Conclusion : The different [lower] out-of-bundle rates hardly makes a difference. Only looks good on paper.
 
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TheCynick said:
:( Kind of disingeneous...the "low" out-of-bundle rates are nice for the marketing people, but when the clever peeps in this forum do the maths a rather different picture emerges. Doubtless vodacom will make use of this when they do their competitive analysis.

I had high hopes for MTN's offerings, but this counts as a strikeout to me.
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If the tariffs are hard to compare with competitors it is simply because we designed them from the customer up. We did market research last year to ascertain our usage parameters. We designed bundle points based on clusters of customers. One finds that there tend to be usage clusters based on types of activities. We wanted to keep the decisions simple so we designed bundles to 'self adjust' by having lower out-of-bundle tariffs as you went up the scale. This makes it simpler for customers to decide up front which bundle to start with.

Remember that your forum members are more savvy around usage whereas many people want easier choice and a self-adjusting approach.

Over time people learn their usage patterns and we can also analyse and work out where the sweet spots are to put more focus. It's rather like having three darts and trying carefully to hit the bull rather than chucking a whole lot and hoping for the best. Therefore I hope we can consider this work in progress.

Your idea of repeated bundles will be considered
 
MTNBroadband said:
If the tariffs are hard to compare with competitors it is simply because we designed them from the customer up. We did market research last year to ascertain our usage parameters. We designed bundle points based on clusters of customers.
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You did market research and all you could come up with was 10, 100 or 1000 gig? Sorry for being critical mtnbb but those tariffs are pretty broken, as has been pointed out by diabolus and Neo. It works out pricier than Vodacom in just about every comparison and thats bad news for MTN customers however you look at it. The ones that are 'savvy' enough will just go with Vodacom. I'd suggest going back to the drawing board on this one (and try not to let the marketing people get ahold of it). More choice needed, more packages, more flexibility.
 
diabolus said:
Indeed that's the whole catch probably. What would the point of 'out-of-bundle' rates be if you can simply buy multiple bundles in a month?
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There is no "catch". The out-of-bundle is simply a way of making sure that you configure your combination reasonably close to your actual usage. They are asking for a commitment and giving you a slap on the wrist if you stray too far above that commitment. It's the same concept as the ProCall cellphone contracts.
I can't imagine MTN would allow that, as that'll amount to a top-up system and therefore ability to avoid out-of-bundle rates completely (oh i've used up my 100MB, lets just get another one). Even if you can load them only at beginning of the month, imagine the adminstrative issues. I.e. On which bundle am i now ; have i used up my 3rd bundle? ; what will be my out-of-bundle rate if i have a 100MB and a 10MB bundle together etc etc? MTN will be creating a billing hell for themselves allowing such 'customizable' options.
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It's not that complicated, and in fact exactly what Vodacom are now doing with their 3G bundles.

The MTN "10,100,1000" model is however a more elegant solution than Vodacom's. It is in fact based on a classical textbook pricing model with built in "price breaks". It uses the same rationale as having currency in coin/note denominations of 1,2 and 5 - you can make up any monetary value between 1c and R999.99 with the minimum number of currency "pieces" - OK, so that presumes a R500 note, but you get the idea.

The pricing model however needs to optimise the minimum number of "denominations" or product lines rather than "pieces". Any 10Mb increment from 10Mb to say, 10Gb can be configured using only 3 "invoice lines". For example, if I decide that my monthly usage averages 1370Mb, I would order:
1 x 1000Mb @ R499 = R499
3 x 100Mb @ R100 = R300
7 x 10Mb @ R10 = R70

and pay that total + any excess of 1370Mb @ R1.25/Mb

I am convinced that MTN intended multiple bundles - that was certainly the intention of the marketing guy/gal/person who designed the pricing model.
 
For example, if I decide that my monthly usage averages 1370Mb, I would order:
Click to expand...

Sounds nice and all that but

What exactly would the purpose of such intricate system be? If you can customize your monthly package to the nearest 10MB then why in the world can't you just go to MTN and go "i want to use 1250MB this month, bill me and goodbye", why bother with 'combining bundles' at all (Actually why have bundles even) ? Sounds like it's complicating a simple thing.

Then MTN might as well just tell you :

0-999MB : R1.00 p/MB
1GB+ : R0.53 p/MB
out-of-requested-amount : R1.50 p/MB

So if you ask for less than 1GB i.e. 725MB you will be billed R725. How simple is that?

It's not that complicated, and in fact exactly what Vodacom are now doing with their 3G bundles.
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of being able to combine bundles at vodacom, still only 1 bundle per month. They wouldn't have created so many bundles if you could [then the 10, 100, 1000 would've sufficed].

The out-of-bundle is simply a way of making sure that you configure your combination reasonably close to your actual usage. They are asking for a commitment and giving you a slap on the wrist if you stray too far above that commitment.
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I don't see the reason for this, i definitely don't phone Vodacom every month to tell them how many minutes i plan to use in the month. So why is it expected on data? If 'staying within certain limits' are the issue here, then why not use a soft cap system [similar to cellphone contracts]. Imho out-of-bundle systems are plain and simply a profit mechanism. You will either use -more- and thus pay additional 'penalties' or you'll use less [in which case you'll loose the unused MB which you paid for]. Both cases = profits for MTN/Vodacom don't you think?
 
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MTNBroadband said:
If the tariffs are hard to compare with competitors it is simply because we designed them from the customer up. We did market research last year to ascertain our usage parameters. We designed bundle points based on clusters of customers. One finds that there tend to be usage clusters based on types of activities.
Click to expand...

hi mtnbb - there is a fundamental flaw in the methodology that mtn and your competitor vodacom have chosen around your bundles - the use of historic data from last year is not representative simply because data bundles where a lot more expensive, and users were a lot more careful in choosing what they used gprs for.

In my humble opinion, you should have engaged the corporates directly for usage patterns - your customers on APN services would have been able to give you a much better indication of bundle sizes required by user types. This is simply because of the fact that the APNs work on bill back to corporates and the end user never sees a bill - he will use the service as per his needs and not based on how much it is costing.

I was privaledged to be on the edge trial, and not once did anyone from mtn survey/question me asking what I actually needed. I was given a pcmcia data card and just told to go wild. (which i duely did :) ) Had the trial users usage pattern been closely anaylsed and a proper needs analysis done, I think far more effective bundles would have been realised.

This is not a criticism - just an observation. Use it. Dont use it :-)
 
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MTNBroadband said:
Your idea of repeated bundles will be considered
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Sweetheart you better “consider” fast.

After the marketing fiasco of the last two months, you now amazingly have a slight advantage over Vodacom because of the original cheaper rates. DON”T SCREW IT UP.

The intention of the MTN pricing model was clearly based on multiple bundles. I don’t know the details of how it got changed, but from experience I can just guess at committees, egos and dumbos. Whatever. We (I am a shareholder as well as a subscriber) need to fix it before Monday morning. I know we are doing this in the full view of the competition, but please believe me this is better than trying to fix it next week after the paw-paw hits the fan.

I can just imagine the gloating from Yebo if we go into our launch as is. We are 2 months late. We have a slower data rate and now it seems we are also more expensive. What a mess!
 
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Lets the price war begin but Vodacom will always be the leader.Histroy alway showed Vodacom was always 1st and market leader..
 
Tahir Ally said:
Lets the price war begin but Vodacom will always be the leader.Histroy alway showed Vodacom was always 1st and market leader..
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whay history are you looking at? vodacom was WAY behind with data services via mobile. years in fact. MTN was first to offer GPRS and HSCSD by a longshot!!!!!!!
 
Ya ask MTN there HSCSD network is not stable....There was a gov dept in the CAPE bought MTN HSCSD services. It only worked for two weeks and MTN HSCSD NETWORK CRASH..............Did you see MTN Blackberry offering.MTN only giving free email sending and receiving for 3 months @R358pm.......Vodacom is R349pm +100 anytime min and unlimited sending and receiving email..........Vodacom leads again
 
Here's what they are saying about MTN over in the "Vodacom 3G tariffs" thread:
RayBar said:
Unfortunately the competition in the form of MTN are busy self destructing. It seems that some genius there decided to simplify their pricing by not allowing the purchase of more than one bundle. Their original pricing made them cheaper than Vodacom across the board. The change makes them more expensive except for two small nodes around 100Mb and 1000Mb. They now go into their launch on Monday being not only slower, but also more expensive. Go and check out their thread on this forum.

What a pity. Some decent competition would have helped to keep Vodacom on their toes and maintain pressure for price reductions.
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So it is Monday the 11th and MTN's website still show the old GPRS prices 0f 98c / 20kB unit. I was under the impression it would be cheaper from today. Anybody got any news on this?
 
So it is Monday today and the biggest SP in the country, Autopage, cannot provide me with the 10 MB bundle. They don’t have their systems updated yet. :mad:
 
...and when you call 258, they still quote your "balance" in 20kB units, which makes me nervous to play around with GPRS, just in case they are still on the old system.
 
Trying to activate a bundle, would you believe, MTNSP are telling me that the 10MB bundle was deactivated and has become blackberry, they really haven't done anything to inform staff of what's going on!
 
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