BlackBerry Z10 contract prices revealed
Vodacom is set to launch the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone at Vodacom World at 18:30 on Wednesday (20 February 2013), and pricing for their contract deals have started to surface.
Industry sources have revealed that Vodacom will be launching the non-LTE model of the BlackBerry Z10, with the launch of the LTE model expected to follow early in March.
Both models will be available on a brand new set of smartphone contracts from Vodacom.
These new smartphone packages follow the naming convention of Smart S, M, L, and XL for the lower tier, while the upper tier will include packages called “Red Advantage”, “Red Premium”, and “Red VIP”.
The table below summarises the deals that will be available from Vodacom for the BlackBerry Z10:
| Vodacom Smart package | Minutes | SMS | Data (MB) | BlackBerry Z10 price | BlackBerry Z10 LTE price |
| Smart S | 75 | 150 | 75 | R399 | N/A |
| Smart M | 120 | 240 | 120 | R449 | R489 |
| Smart L | 250 | 500 | 250 | R599 | R629 |
| Smart XL | 400 | 800 | 400 | R749 | R799 |
| Red Advantage | 700 | unlimited | 700 | R999 | R999 |
| Red Premium | 1,200 | unlimited | 1,200 | R1,599 | R1,599 |
| Red VIP | unlimited | unlimited | 1,500 | R1,999 | R1,999 |
| With additional 500MB data | |||||
| Smart S + 500MB | 75 | 150 | 75 | R479 | N/A |
| Smart M + 500MB | 120 | 240 | 120 | R529 | N/A |
| Smart L + 500MB | 250 | 500 | 250 | R679 | N/A |
| Smart XL + 500MB | 400 | 800 | 400 | R829 | N/A |
| * All deals include unlimited BBM which expires on 31 May 2013 | |||||
As with Vodacom’s previous smartphone packages, an allocation of minutes, SMSes and data is included in the monthly price.
Subscribers that opt for a non-LTE BlackBerry Z10 will also be able to get an additional 500MB of data with their package for an extra R80 per month – the equivalent of the network’s current promotional contract price.
Another important detail in the information we received is that uncapped BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) does not feature in the BlackBerry Z10 product offering on the Vodacom network.
The only remnant of BIS included in these new contracts is unlimited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for a limited period.
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According to the deal descriptions, unlimited BBM expires on 31 May 2013 – just over three months after the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 on Vodacom.
File transfers over BBM, which include pictures, music, zipped files, v-cards (contact cards), voice notes and calendar appointments, are limited to 6MB per transfer.
BBM Voice, BBM Video and Screen Sharing are completely excluded from Vodacom’s “unlimited BBM” offer.
Vodacom was contacted for comment, but a spokesperson was not immediately available.
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