Econet’s device and services festive promo, the good and the bad.

Econet in conjunction with Steward Bank are running a festive season promo where they are soliciting customers to sign-up for device and services combo on 24 month contracts. The deals as advertised on their posters are not as clear cut so we contacted people at the company for some clarity.

The most interesting deals are the high-end smartphone deals namely the iPhone 5, Samsung S3 and Samsung S4. For the Smart Plan 100, the customer pays $100 each month for 24 months and gets $67 worth of services (voice, data and text) and $45 covering the device. The $12 difference in services there is basically free value the package offers. So after 24 months you would have paid Econet $2,400 with $1,080 of that covering the device and $1,320 covering services worth $1,608.

Entry level deals will see consumers fork out upto $250 over two years for an entry level Nokia Asha 201.

The Bad

• You cannot separate the device and services component of the instalments. This means that if you want the iPhone 5 16GB, you can’t choose to buy the device and pay $45 each month over 24 months and stick to the prepaid option. Understandably so if you consider that Econet’s margin on the phone is probably think, they’re not making much on it. The money for them is in the voice and data and 24 months of guaranteed spending by the customer is what they are after.
• The package does not have an insurance component which means if you sign-up for these deals, in the event that you lose the device, you will have the double problem of having to replace your device and paying up the remainder of your lost or stolen device. In comparison for example, mobile network operators offer device insurance based on your installments to cover your device from theft or damages that are not covered by warranty.
• Consumer electronics brands release three or four new devices each year and committing to one device for 24 months may be difficult to swallow for today’s trendy consumers. The same goes for the monthly service fee; $67 may end up being more than you need a month on Econet itself or their competition. 24 months is just a long time to commit to a fixed price especially in tech.

The Good

• The devices all come with a 12 months warranty which is positive considering most devices in Zimbabwe are not from official distributors who can back them up with after sales support.
• Although still attached to the contract bundle, cost of devices appear to be fair. The Iphone 5 16 GB will cost $1080 paid over 24 months. Fair enough considering the cost of credit in Zimbabwe. The same phone has a cash price of $1014 which puts the interest at less than $70.

The interesting thing is Zimbabwean consumers have never favored contracts especially and network providers seem to be pushing them away with the steep pricing. Vodacom South Africa offers more or less the same Iphone plan (Iphone 5s 16 GD, 75mins, 200 sms, 200mb data) for R469 ($46.17). Considering that the cost of the device as sold by Econet is as fair as it can get for Zimbabwe over 24 months, the only explanation why Zimbabwean consumers pay more than double their South African counterparts is the cost of telephony is still too expensive in Zimbabwe.