For a reason best known to them, Telecel had for a while decided that mobile phones were not that important as an added line for customers. Basically, mobile phones disappeared from their shops and they focused on the other stuff, pushing the dollar fore 2 lines, data and all.This week, the company announced a return to mobile phones, specifically, smartphones and tablets financed in partnership with Afrasia Kingdom.
It’s a move Telecel was expected make eventually as the largest operator in the country, Econet Wireless, has been pushing financed smartphones for more than a year. Unlike Econet though, Telecel is bundling the smartphones with another existing package called Telecel Red.
Devices on offer include the iPhone 5, iPad 4, Samsung Galaxy 3 and 4, Galaxy Note 2, Huawei 200 and Samsung Luisa. Subscribers can choose any of the devices and pair it with a Telecel Red plan. There are 3 red plans by the way; Red 30, Red 60 and Red 150 (details of each Red plan here) So, depending on the Red plan a customer chooses they pay an initial amount of between US $87 (Samsung Luisa with Red 30) and $461 (iPhone 5 with Red 150).
According to a release today, the company says whether you qualify for the devices or not is up to the bank as applications are made there.
Good deal or not?
Whether its a good deal or not is obviously up to how ready you are to pay cash for a device, and if Telecel Red was ever something you considered. Let’s take the Samsung Galaxy S4 for example. The general cash price for the phone on the market is between $750 and $900. See breakdown below of the total price:
| Red monthly component | Initial device only | Monthly device only | Total device price over 12 months | |
| Red 30 | $ 34.5 | $ 262.5 | $ 65.5 | $ 987.5 |
| Red 60 | $ 69.5 | $ 262.5 | $ 65.5 | $ 987.5 |
| Red 150 | $ 172.5 | $ 262.5 | $ 65.5 | $ 987.5 |
As you can see you’re generally paying about $87.5 over the market cash price, basically the price of the $900 in value Kingdom is advancing you.
If you’re wondering how much Econet is charging for the same phone, it’s $888 ($37 multiplied by 24 months). But this is just a comparison of the device component of both deals as the voice and data offering are apples and oranges.
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3 comments
Oh Fiddle sticks, these guys should offer real pro poor deals not these exhobitant deals like what is happening state side. you basically pay zilch and then they recoup their investments over the phone call charges. check my blog also guys http://www.zimsmartphones.wordpress.com
Still expensive… These deals do not really entice the average user. And there are many of “us” average users…
Telecel sucks keep away from it everyone reading this article. Their data network is so lousy that you can’t even use up the extra free bundles you get when you buy a certain amount of data. Change to Econet which I did and no longer vilify Econet like I used to. Econet is cheaper and the data network GOOD.