Guaranteed ISP Happiness: It’s all about value not price as uMax competes in aggressive market

Nigel Gambanga Avatar
uMax Money Back Guarantee

uMax Money Back Guarantee

You probably have seen the ad already by now; local ISP uMax is offering a money back guarantee to new subscribers. If you sign up for their Wimax package and for whatever reason are not happy with their service they are offering, they will give you your money back.

Actually this is not a new development. uMax has been offering this same two week guarantee forever actually. The new promo they did introduce this year was the free internet access from 10pm to 6am, a freebie that was definitely welcome by users on a capped 20 GB package.

According to the ISP this two week guarantee has always been part of their operational and service promise. It’s just that now uMax has decided to make a bold statement that shows who they are as service provider that’s confident in its quality of delivery.

On the surface this makes a lot of sense and adds up. uMax has built a strong reputation for its service quality which extends to customer care and regular feedback and this value proposition should be proclaimed loudly.

The uMax Wimax package (though somewhat pricey at $75 for 20GB) has the hallmarks of consistent quality. The promise and delivery is a solid speed of 1Mbps as opposed to the “up to XYZ Mbps” that other ISPs bring to the table.

Most people who have tried different ISPs including uMax give positive feedback on how uMax responds to customer queries and communicates effectively to its clients. It’s something that other ISPs should be working on. They deliver on their promise so it makes sense to use that as their strong point of difference.

However there are other factors that could explain why uMax is probably stepping up its promos on everything Max. The most evident is the depressed economic environment that has put service providers in a very uncomfortable position.

Another issue is the company’s performance. In the last financial results for Masawara; the parent company to Telerix Communications (the corporate profile for uMax), Telerix registered a loss after tax of $2.1 million for the six months ending June 2014. This is actually an improved performance from the previous result ($2.9 million).

uMax is driving its value proposition aggressively to maintain this recovery path. The team has to maintain their increasing customer count (up 53 % for individual customers and 14% for corporates) by competing on matrices other than price, where they have to fight against cheaper Wimax services from ISPs like ZOL.

Also worth remembering is that UMax doesn’t seem to be in a position to lower prices to lure more clients. Its still expanding its network. The best it can do is extol its own virtues and hope that its target client will consider its services above other Wimax services and also the looming threat of lowered Fibre prices like ZOL Fibroniks’ $89 package.

What is worth more to you as an internet subscriber? Is it the price or the quality of the internet service and everything that the ISP offers? 

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4 comments

  1. Observer

    How much did they pay you to write this article???

  2. Dube

    You can ask that again Observer.

  3. Anonymous

    $75 for 1mbps and 20gig please if they maintain it well – they will be history pretty soon. Don’t blame the competition and no one will shed a tear for you.

  4. Sinclair

    Over the years I have either used myself or worked with companies that were using just about every ISP available in Harare. uMax is totally superior in customer service and the speed on offer is the speed you get.

    Yes ZOL Fibroniks for US 89 is potentially faster but also capped at 20 Gb / month. To get uncapped you have to go up to US 149 / month. And unless something has happened of late their customer “service” leavase a lot to be desired.

    ADSL… well try and get anyone at TelOne who can help you if you have a problem. Good Luck! PowerTel don’t even mention it.

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