Vodafone India Offers 1 GB of Bonus Data on Pre-Booked 4G SIMs

Vodafone India has launched a promotion for its customers in the state of Haryana, where the operator plans to commercially launch its 4G services soon. As part of the campaign, customers who pre-book their Vodafone 4G SIM until 23 August will receive a 1GB 4G data bonus valid for 10 days from activation. To access the offer, Vodafone customers in Haryana need a 4G-enabled handset and an active Vodafone 3G package. In addition, Vodafone 4G customers from Haryana will be able to access 4G connectivity while roaming across all existing Vodafone 4G circles in India—Mumbai, Delhi and environs, Kerala, Karnataka and Kolkata. Vodafone has already made 4G-ready SIMs available at 250 branded stores and at over 5,000 multi-brand outlets across Haryana.   The capital investment required to launch 4G-LTE services is quite substantial, and operators will of course want to know that there will be a customer base in place to provide the return on its investment. India is a rapidly developing mobile marketplace making the transition from 2G/3G to 4G. To incentivize its existing customers to purchase a 4G-enabled handset in order to be ready for the launch of the high-speed services, and to be willing to accept the higher charges for that service, Vodafone is offering some free data. A one-time 1 GB giveaway is not particularly extravagant by developed-market standards, but for users who have not previously had the ability to consumer large amounts of data via high-speed networks, it will likely be very appealing. Most important, though, from a strategic point of view is the fact that Vodafone India is requiring customers to pre-book their 4G service in order to get the promotional offer. With enough pre-booked subscriptions, the operator will have the confidence of knowing that its new service will have enough subscribers to bring in enough revenue to make it viable. We consider this to be a very savvy approach.  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

Rwanda and Gabon Launch One Area Network

Rwanda and Gabon have introduced One Area Network, an initiative under which the two central African nations will get rid of roaming charges, allowing their citizens to enjoy reduced calling rates, according to a news report. The initiative is being launched by Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Gabonese counterpart, Ali Bongo. Kagame said the development will serve to integrate the continent and enable citizens of the two countries to communicate cheaply. Kagame also said that the digital integration will serve to achieve the goal of having a single digital market. In order to achieve affordable and accessible internet, it is important to involve the private sector, Kagame noted, adding that wide access to broadband is difficult to achieve without public-private partnerships. In the European Union, as we have written on several occasions recently, extra roaming fees attracted strong opposition from many policymakers and members of the public and as a result are being phased out. In other markets, operators are making significant revenue from roaming surcharges and there is no move afoot from state regulators or industry consortiums to eliminate them. This initiative from Africa is interesting because shows that, at least in the opinion of decision-makers in that region, eliminating roaming can be a stimulus to MNO revenues and to the regional mobile economy generally. An initiative similar to the present one was implemented in the Northern Corridor region, which covers Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya; it increased mobile traffic in the region by about 800 percent and thereby increased profits for operators in the region. Kagame intends the One Area Network to be the first step toward the goal of achieving a single digital market for Africa. In that sense, his agreement with Ali Bongo is noteworthy, in that the two countries do not share a border; the digital unification of a region can transcend traditional geographic concepts.

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