Vodacom to cage “out-of-bundle shark”
Vodacom wants the worry of being charged out-of-bundle (OOB) rates to become a thing of the past, the chief consumer officer at the network, Phil Patel, recently told MyBroadband.
To that end, the network will be introducing new services over the next few months, beginning in March 2013, to warn users when their bundles are about to be depleted.
In future they will also recommend the most cost-effective bundle for a subscriber to use instead of going out-of-bundle, Patel said.
One of the mechanisms Vodacom will use to do this is their app for smartphone users.
Patel explained that they not only want to make it easier for users to buy bundles from the app, they’re working on having the app alert users when their bundle is about to be depleted.
Phil Patel
Why keep ad-hoc and OOB prices high?
When asked why the ad-hoc data price of R2/MB and out-of-bundle prices are kept high, both 8ta and Vodacom previously explained that it has to do with network management and planning.
Vodacom said that their pricing model is designed to make it attractive for customers to commit to data bundles on a contract basis. This gives them more predictability on usage patterns and ultimately lets them manage the network more efficiently.
It is for this reason according to Vodacom that the in-bundle and OOB rates are inversely proportional: if they make the OOB rate lower then they would have to increase their in-bundle rates.
Since most subscribers don’t go out of bundle, Vodacom said they decided to give the biggest possible discount to in-bundle rates.
More ad-hoc and out-of-bundle rate articles
Vodacom planning simpler data buying
Ad hoc data rates: Why so high?
5c/MB still not realistic: Vodacom
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