When Econet launched eTXT in March this year, we praised the service for innovation in a space that no other provider is playing; linking basic mobile phones to internet services like Email, Facebook and instant messaging. With a mobile phone just capable of SMS and voice calls, subscribers could now effectively send emails, respond to chats and post to their Facebook wall.
Sending a message to the internet cost a subscriber US 7 cents. That’s 2 cents less a regular phone to phone SMS. Subscribers loved the service but most didn’t quite like the price. It’s supposed to be lower, was the common sentiment. Sending an SMS to the internet is somehow expected to be cheaper than sending one to another mobile phone.
We’re told adoption of the service started to slow down so Econet and ForgetMeNot Africa (the owners of the eTXT system) had to go back to the drawing board. The result: They have knocked off another 2 cents. An eTXT SMS to the internet now costs 5 cents.
It’s hard to predict how customers will react. The market has a strange (read harsh) way of reacting to Econet services even when the company does some good. In fact, we can bet some will clamour for a free service. Something along the lines of, “Econet is making so much money, why can’t they just make it free!”
We still think it’s a great service. We love its cousin Dasuba too, which we find cleaner and easier to work with. Zimbabwe and other African countries still have a huge number of subscribers using basic mobile phone.
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6 comments
Better still is to use biNu to send free SMS, search Google, read the news and more. You will need a data connection but the data usage is very low. Download from m.binu.com.
Does biNu work on basic phone that doesn’t even do internet? so basic it can’t even take apps?
just neen on the link seemz it doesnt so etxt still does the job but the pricing is still high considering that the sms’s are going over IP..
Hi LSM, no you need a data connection and you need the biNu app installed. These devices are becoming very cheap and you will also save more in the long run if you aren’t paying for SMS.
just get a bloody computer and adsl mate. all this junk technology won’t get you nowhere
even after this 2cents reduction,….its still unattractive to some of us , there are hundreds of far cheaper options that we can use. Just wish it was an ordinaru phone to phone TXT that had been reduced!