Vodacom South Africa Offers Smartphone Financing for Prepaid Customers

Vodacom South Africa has launched an offer that will enable prepaid customers to purchase smartphones on a 12-month payment plan with zero interest. To make it available, the operator will communicate directly with customers whose eligibility will be determined based on their current prepaid airtime, data spend and length of time on the Vodacom network. Eligible customers who choose the option will pay a 10 percent deposit on the device, and Vodacom will deliver the handset to them in two or three working days. This payment plan will initially be available on a range of 4G/LTE Samsung phones including the Galaxy J4, A1, and A2, with the lower-end device priced at ZAR 799.00 (US $54.80) and the higher end device ZAR 2,999.00 (US $205.68) over 12 months. The company expects that this offer will be extended to other devices in the future.  As operators expand their networks and available services, one of the obstacles to uptake and traffic maximization, especially in developing markets, is lack of compatible devices due to high prices. Some users may not have devices at all, while others may have basic phones without data. So getting 4G/LTE devices into the hands of as many customers as possible is key for any operator. That could be accomplished with device subsidies or, as in this case with Vodacom, by allowing customers to spread the payments over a period of time, without interest or fees. Payment plans are typically allowed for postpaid plans, since the customers are generally signed on for long-term contracts. However, Vodacom is taking the somewhat unusual step of allowing monthly payments for prepaid users. That is justified in light of the fact that prepaid users are more inclined to be budget-oriented and to find smartphones more difficult to afford. Vodacom has stated that it wants to drive digital and financial inclusion by giving their customers the opportunity to purchase 4G-enabled smartphones, and this offer should go a long way toward fulfilling that goal. Expanding the offer to include a wider range of devices from different manufacturers will make it even more appealing over time.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance.   To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com

Toyota, Komeda, KDDI Launch Traffic Safety Smartphone App

Toyota Motor Corporation, Komeda, and KDDI have launched a smartphone application dubbed “Driving Barista.” The app is designed to reduce the number of traffic accidents in Aichi Prefecture which are caused by drivers using their smartphones while driving. The traffic safety initiative involving the app will be carried out and jointly promoted by the three partners. The Driving Barista app can only be used within Aichi Prefecture. Leveraging the gyro sensor to sense the tilt of the smartphone body and the GPS to determine the distance driven, the app measures the distance the driver has driven while leaving the smartphone facedown. When the cumulative distance reaches 100 km, the driver will receive a coupon for a cup of blended or iced coffee at a Komeda Coffee Shop.

  

This anti-distracted-driving initiative is noteworthy in that the purpose-built app that implements it was developed in partnership with a mobile operator, KDDI. While Driving Barista’s free coffee in exchange for 100 km driven without using a smartphone may not seem particularly exciting, the idea of promoting driver safety is a good one, and for an MNO to participate in such an initiative stands to raise the company’s profile among the public. The cross promotion with a major automobile manufacturer like Toyota also should benefit the operator in terms of brand strengthening. If the app is available to all users regardless of whether they are KDDI subscribers, the initiative could very well have the collateral effect of driving new subscriptions to the operator.

Tarifica is the global leader in monitoring and analyzing telecom pricing. Covering hundreds of operators in every region of the globe, Tarifica’s databases of mobile and fixed line data and voice tariffs are among the largest and most in-depth in the world. Tarifica is also a leading publisher of benchmark and other pricing reports, and its analysts are recognized authorities in the telecom industry, relied upon by operators and businesses worldwide for pricing insight and guidance. 

To learn more about Tarifica, please visit www.tarifica.com 

The First Dual Screen Smartphone in the World.

United Arab Emirates-based mobile operator Etisalat, in partnership with Jumbo Electronics, is offering the recently launched dual-screen YotaPhone with several of its prepaid and postpaid packages. The device costs AED 2,199.00 (US $598.69) upfront with a monthly-prepaid package of 1 GB of data, which costs AED 99.00 (US $26.95). Postpaid users will receive the device at no charge with Etisalat’s Plan 1 (1 GB of data and 100 Flexi-minutes, which include local, international and inbound roaming minutes) and Plan 2 (10 GB of data and 300 Flexi-minutes), which cost AED 250.00 (US $68.06) and AED 400.00 (US $108.90), respectively per month on 18-month contract options. The YotaPhone, developed by Russian manufacturer Yota Devices, has an LCD display screen on the front side and an e-Ink screen (electronic paper display) on the back. This second generation of the phone, which was released in February—just a few months after the phone’s first-generation debut—is Android-based with both a 5-inch display and a 4.7-inch qHD e-Ink touchscreen. The phone also features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and an 8-megapixel camera. When just using the e-Ink screen, the phone’s battery will last for over 50 hours.

At a rate of 73.8 percent in 2013, the United Arab Emirates has one of the highest smartphone penetrations in the world, and Etisalat recognizes that its country’s users have a high level of interest in innovative devices such as the YotaPhone. “At Etisalat, we consciously team up with innovators to bring exclusive opportunities to our customers to own new types of handsets ahead of others in the market,” said Khaled El Khouly, the operator’s chief marketing officer. Etisalat is banking on tech enthusiasts and users interested in the latest device trends embracing the YotaPhone, even though its specifications are lower than those of the latest premium offerings from other device manufacturers, including Samsung. Etisalat has priced YotaPhone postpaid and prepaid bundles to be competitive with the bundles that it offers with the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Yota Devices CEO Vladislav Martynov reinforces this concept by saying that the value users find in the YotaPhone’s e-Ink screen will more than outweigh the phone being equipped with processors and cameras that are high level but not the most powerful available. As the company plans for the much larger global launch of the YotaPhone 2 at the end of 2014 or in early 2015, it remains to be seen if the phone’s battery saving-feature and the easier reading experience that it provides—especially in bright sunlight—will drive mass-market sales of the device or if users will wait for some of the giants in the industry to offer similar products.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx

Airtel Equips Youth with Knowledge in Mobile Phone Repairs.

Airtel Nigeria has introduced an empowerment initiative directed at equipping young people with practical knowledge in mobile phone repairs. The Basic Mobile Phone Repair Module (BMPRM) is a two-week certificate course that supplies participants with the fundamentals at no cost. The BMPRM will be conducted by experts to enable participants to start small businesses of their own. Once the training is complete, the participants will be set up in positions such as APRP (Adaptive Pattern Recognition Processing) operators, workers at SIM selling outlets.

Airtel Nigeria holds the second-largest market share, 21 percent, behind MTN, with 45 percent, and leading Globacom by just 1 percent. Currently, no operators offer phone repair services. However, in December 2013 Globacom introduced a limited-time opportunity for customers of any operator to bring their mobile phones to a Globacom shop and have their phones repaired free of charge. Even though this mobile repair service was effective only for a short period, Globacom got the attention of Nigerian consumers.

Airtel Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Segun Ogunsanya said, “This training is part of our plans to start building a crop of SME [Small and Medium Enterprises] businesses that will spin off our core business and also bring Airtel closer to our customers.” That could mean that Airtel hopes to partner with phone repair shops that graduates of the course may establish in the future. Such partnerships could help the operator gain competitive advantage through better customer service. Still, this approach is not likely to come to fruition quickly, since Airtel began with only 40 participants and is now preparing for another 100. Furthermore, it is not clear whether the BMPRM instruction covers smartphones or only feature phones.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. To access all of the latest articles and issues:  http://www.tarifica.com/TarificaAlert.aspx

New York City Seeks to Replace Payphones with Free WiFi

New York City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) has issued a request for proposals to build a citywide network of free WiFi hotspots. The public communication points will provide free calls to the emergency number 911 and the city information number 311. The winner will install, operate and maintain up to 10,000 public communication points distributed across the city’s five boroughs. These structures will replace and supplement the roughly 7,300 current public payphone installations. The hotspots must be set up within the next four years and will be funded mainly through digital advertising. The plan is projected to bring in US $17.5 million in guaranteed annual revenue for the City of New York through June 2026.

In terms of usage patterns and functionality, WiFi hotspots are the natural successor to the old-fashioned public phone, so this plan makes sense on that level. What is interesting here, though, is that they will be funded through advertising, unlike payphones, which are funded by direct payment from the user. The City of New York is taking a page from the public WiFi solutions being offered to commercial establishments such as malls and restaurants, which are ad-funded. Of course free access to 911 is a public good. Beyond that, though, it remains to be seen whether the city will allow data sharing to benefit businesses that want to target potential customers based on their usage patterns.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of Tarifica's "The Story of The Week", a weekly report that analyzes two noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world. For past issues or to learn more about The Story of The Week :  http://www.tarifica.com/storyoftheweek.aspx