We just got news that Econet has significantly reduced tariffs on its mobile broadband service. The reduction will likely be announced in the coming days but we’re told it’s effective already. From what we can see the reduction is by at least 33% and as much 73%.
Here are the new prices
|
Bundles size |
Price |
Price per MB |
| 10 MB |
$ 1 |
10 cents |
| 80 MB |
$ 5 |
6 cents |
| 200 MB |
$ 10 |
5 cents |
| 500 MB |
$ 20 |
4 cents |
| 1 GB |
$ 35 |
3.5 cents |
| 2.5 GB |
$ 50 |
2 cents |
As you can see, the bundle sizes have also changed. With the old prices, which you can still check out here, the most expensive bundle was 15 cents per MB and the lowest priced, the 1.2GB one, was 7.5 cents per MB.
We are told that the price drop only affects the bundles, so if you’re just using your airtime direct on the internet know that you’ll still be set back the ridiculous 15 cents for each megabyte you use.
The timing of this reduction may have been influenced by Telecel’s recently launched Broadband Plus promo which gives subscribers double the data they pay for. The move by the two providers has clearly changed the game in as far as their fixed broadband competition are concerned, especially those targeting home broadband users.
Still, the price slashes by the two networks may affect the mobile broadband quality as subscribers will likely use the internet more, which may congest the networks.
We are also told that Econet has introduced a new 21 mbps capacity dongle which will be priced at $35. We’ll be laying our hands on one of these as soon as we can so we can see just how good it performs.
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26 comments
Competition on prices is good. Competition on services and quality of those services is even better!! Now if they would bring us LTE.
deployment of LTE starting sooner than you expect, No need to even cross fingers. Starting with a bandwidth of 5MHz on the GSM1800 band (for those that need to know device-band compatibilty) that will give theoretical speeds of 42Mbps Downlink and 28Mbps uplink using 64QAM and MIMO 2×2 antennae – best scenario. Least scenario is 14.4Mbps on HSDPA. Given that not too many people will quickly buy LTE capable devices (be it mobile handsets or dongles) you can be guaranteed throughputs will remain relatively high for long. However migration will be done to the 10MHz band once a relative Quality of Service (QoS) has been achieved, then 15MHz, until 20MHz. speed then will be 150Mbps down and 75Mbps up. perhaps a year to achieve that last bit though.
I spoke about Powertel in one article and I can already see its grave being dug, sorry to Brodacom, my sympathy to Telco and all the ISPs in-between… of course all the best to Africom as the game is just about to get messy.
The future is now, l happen to kno from user experience what lte can do to speeds
The goodness of capitalism. Better services and products.
I think you mean competition
capitalism is what promotes competition 🙂
Capitalism is what allows and breeds competition!
True 🙂 @bc9dcc34ab58e4ac7586f0828d542e87:disqus @anthonysomerset:disqus
Not so sure about this price decrease because I just bought a 10mb bundle for $1. Did they really reduce the prices?
Read the price table again, carefully this time.
“….Econet has introduced a new 21 mbps capacity dongle….”
Thats pie in the air if people are going to buy those dongle responding to such misleading adverts.
Tested speeds in CBD average 5Mbps and burst to 13 Mbps. The add on antenna helps get the HSPA+ carrier up.
Bt how many pple stay in the CBD? I stay less than a kilometre from CBD and Econet speeds ar rubbish, sometimes l even struggle to get a decent signal.
Not every base station is HSDPA… try to put a booster to enhance your antenna
I can confirm that i am recieving the new pricing for data when i check
Thank you Econet. Now these prices are comparable to what i pay Vodacom and MTN. i dont have any problems abt speed coz i stay at a Mine and since very few people use econet (every1 has a netone line) the speeds are better than anywhere in Zim ~8-10Mbps. 🙂
Telecel still the better Deal: with $10, (buying $1 mega juices) you get 320Mbs and $10 Telecel to Telecel. On Econet for $10 you only get 200Mbs. So sticking to Telecel for now.
i think they played around with figures here. Telecel for the past i dont know vannga vachingoita $1 per 10Mb and to my surprise they (Econet) removed R5 bundle from the list.
Telecel was cheaper as you go up. At one time Telecel was giving 110 Mbs for $3, but now with this new promo from Eco vawacha until they offer something special.
Telecel Rates FYI:
$0.65 – 6MB
$1.00 – 10MB
$3.00 – 40MB
$10.00 – 160MB + 160MB FREE
$20.00 – 400MB + 400MB FREE
$45.00 – 1000MB + 1000 FREE
$75.00 – 2000MB + 2000 FREE
A little too late Econet…Telece is clearly in the lead. Maybe this new 21mb dongle, or even that other wimax dongle you have should come with an “unlimited” package modelled along the lines of yo africas, or zols “unlimited” home packages whereby its unlimited in the off peak and controlled during peak hours. #hint hint econet…you have the capacity to do such…after all most of these wimax providers are on liquid fibre!
Telecel is still ahead because when i buy say the $20 budfle from telecel i get 400mb plus $20 worth of Telecel -to – telecel airtime whereas if i use the same $20 on my econet i just get 500MB data only. So telecel is cheaper when u consider the overall
Telecel Data Rates FYI:
$0.65 – 6MB
$1.00 – 10MB
$3.00 – 40MB
$10.00 – 160MB + 160MB FREE
$20.00 – 400MB + 400MB FREE
$45.00 – 1000MB + 1000 FREE
$75.00 – 2000MB + 2000 FREE
I love competition though i am using Telecel, Econet has responded brilliantly especially with their much longer window period. Goodbye Africom thanks for the times we shared.Though i must say in the daytime my Operamini and Skype on my mobile using Telecel hardly work anymore
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