Cellphone rates under threat?
South African consumers will now be able to make unlimited free cell phone calls with just a monthly subscription of R25 (incl VAT) a month. This is according to PrimeTel, a new telecoms provider launching their telephone and Internet services in South Africa today.
Known as PrimeTel-Cel, the cellphone service has been launched in conjunction with Not Just Talk by Exactmobile. Costing R25 a month, consumers will be able to:
– Call free to all other PrimeTel-Cel users at no extra charge from PrimeTel-Cel;
– Call free to all other PrimeTel lines at no extra charge from PrimeTel-Cel;
– Call to Telkom lines for 59c a minute (instead of cellular operator calls of up to R2.90 a minute);
– Call to other cellular phones for R1.30 a minute (instead of cellular operator calls of up to about R2.90 a minute);
– Make international calls for as little as a tenth of the prices charged by the cellular operators; and
– Users will receive a credit of R5 a month for calling to anywhere in South Africa or the world.
PrimeTel-Cel works by using the data capabilities of cellphones and VoIP technology. Phones that are either Symbian or Windows Mobile compatible will be able to support the PrimeTel-Cel technology.
Standard data rates apply to this new service, but PrimeTel-Cel said that their technology uses very little data (250kB/min).
Depending on the data bundle the user has, calls can be made for as little as a few cents per minute, ultimately resulting in far cheaper cellular calls than current service providers can offer.
“To get PrimeTel-Cel, users will have the option of going to the PrimeTel or Exactmobile websites or Exactmobile WAP site and registering for the service at a nominal monthly fee of R25, which will then either be charged from a user’s available airtime (for prepaid cellular users) or will be charged on the regular cellular contract,” the company said.
“After registering for the PrimeTel-Cel service, an SMS containing a link to download the PrimeTel-Cel application will be sent to the user, who can then immediately begin making use of the service.”
PrimeTel-Cel said that making a call is easy, even for those not familiar with modern technology. Users simply click on the PrimeTel name displayed on their cellphone screen and begin calling the same way one normally would.
“To ensure that PrimeTel-Cel users are not inconvenienced, users’ numbers will remain the same when calling a PrimeTel-Cel user with just a 27 prefix being added to each number. PrimeTel-Cel calls will also ring through to your mobile phone handset the same way a regular call through your current service provider would, so essentially PrimeTel-Cel users will notice no difference in the way they receive calls.”
“The South African consumer is spending far too much on their cellphone calling and now, with the introduction of PrimeTel-Cel into the South African market, we can change that dramatically as the opportunities for cost savings with PrimeTel-Cel abound,” said Michael Alter, PrimeTel’s managing director
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