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Vmobile slashes call rates
KEN NWOGBO
PIQUED
by public outcry, Vmobile Nigeria has become the first Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) operator to lower its tariff regime to as low as N1 per
second and 60 kobo per second second for international and local calls
respectively.
GSM operators had before now fought for
control of the market with slashes in their connection prices, but the demanding
Nigerian subscribers asked for lowering of the call charges instead.
This is coming as a Nigerian firm,
Systemtech Services Nigeria, is touting a solution that can save the country
about N25 billion annually from the importation of foreign software.
Software is made up of instructions that
tell the computer what to do and Nigeria imports about N100 billion of these
every year mostly from Europe and America.
Software also is the engine that drives
other sectors of the economy including computer hardware.
The likes of Microsoft and Oracle products
command leadership positions among software in the Nigeriain market.
But Managing Director, Systemstech
Services Limited, Mr. Emeka Madubuike said the company is set to reverse the
trend and if encouraged further, could make Nigeria a major earner of foreign
exchange from software and solutions.
Mr. Madubuike said his company has
technical competence in software engineering which has led to a Telbill online
Billing and Customer Care System designed for simplified billing operation for
large network operator.
The company has also developed a tele-banking
application known as Telebanker to enhance service delivery allowing the
customer to get help on 24 hours basis by dialing a telephone number from any
touch phone.
Elsewhere, Vmobile said its internatioanl
calls is now as low as N1 per second while its premium prepaid package, Veego,
would now go for as low as 60k per second for local calls.
The company’s spokesman Mr. Obinna Ariwodo
said off-peak Short Message Service (SMS) would cost N10 per SMS and bundled
airtime as low as N17 per minute.
Mr. Ariwodo said the new offer for
international calls includes destinations to the United Kingdom (U.K.), United
States of America (U.S.A.), Italy, and Egypt as well as other zones on the
locations one, covering 90 per cent of the world.
"The rates for other packages including
Vbusiness, Vstep and tariff is now as low as 30k per second while the
Vstep offers subscribers as low as 50k per second for talk time in excess of
7200 seconds," Mr. Ariwodo added.
He noted that "under the bundled air tiem,
V500 (500 minutes of airtime) is offered at the rate of N20 per minute while the
V1000 (1000 minutes of airtime) is offered at the rate of N18 per minute. Flat
rates of N17 per minute and N19 per minute respectively will apply to reward
bundle subscribers after they exceed their required talk time within the bundle
for V1000 and V500 respectively."
The spokesman disclosed that in response
to the desire of the subscribers to pay lower rates in relation to their airtime
consumption only, all pre-paid packages will as from January, 2005 consist of
Per second Tariff Plans.
"By popular demand, new subscribers on the prepaid
platform will from that date, enjoy the benefit of the Per Second Tariff Plan as
they activate their sims, without any need for migration. Meanwhile, the company
plans to finalize the migration of all current prepaid subscribers to the Per
Second platform by 31 December 2004. All such migration will be completed free
of charge to the subscribers," Mr. Ariwodo also stated.
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