While we were in Mutare at the Hillcrest College ICT Expo and Winter Fair, we visited the Utande stand to check out what the internet service provider (ISP) had on offer for customers in the Eastern Highlands. And to our surprise, the team at Utande told us that they had LTE capped or pay-as-you-go packages for customers in Mutare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
| Package | Price (USD) |
| 20 GB | 29.00 |
| 30 GB | 39.00 |
| 40 GB | 48.00 |
| 50 GB | 60.00 |
| 75 GB | 69.00 |
| 100 GB | 78.00 |
If you remember the last time we covered Utande LTE there was an announcement of the slashing their USD prices for the uncapped packages by 18%. And we badgered the folks from Utande about the arrival of capped packages because they make the most sense for the average user.
Furthermore, we hosted Dandemutande CEO, Never Ncube on an episode of Technikari to ask about the arrival of capped LTE packages and we were told that they are on their way sometime in the future. Well, it appears that they were true to their word but not in the way I expected.
Utande LTE capped packages vs Liquid Wibroniks and TelOne Blaze
So it looks like there is no love for Harare with the capped packages because they are only available in the other three major cities. This sucks for the capital but it might mean that Utande is looking to make in roads everywhere else or maybe they think the folks in Harare are better served by the uncapped packages.
Either way, the proof is in how much cheaper these pay-as-you-go packages are compared to Liquid Home’s Wibroniks and TelOne’s Blaze LTE.
| Package | Utande LTE (USD) | Liquid Home Wibroniks (USD) | TelOne Blaze LTE (USD) |
| 20 GB | 29.00 | 41.00 | 23.00 |
| 25GB | – | 49.50 | – |
| 30 GB | 39.00 | 60.50 | – |
| 40 GB | 48.00 | – | 37.00 |
| 50 GB | 60.00 | – | – |
| 60GB | – | 91.00 | – |
| 75 GB | 69.00 | – | – |
| 100 GB | 78.00 | 121.00 | 57.00 |
It appears that Utande has sandwiched itself between Liquid’s Wibroniks and TelOne’s Blaze when it comes to prices. At this point, I am pretty sure the eagle eyed customer of either TelOne and Liquid has seen that some of the lower data caps have been omitted. This is because the comparison is not really like for like if you go into the packages that don’t directly compare with Utande’s capped LTE packages.
All that being said I think Utande is more competition for Liquid Wibroniks than for TelOne because the latter is only available in Harare and Chitungwiza, while Utande and Liquid are better represented across the country. The only place where TelOne comes into play is in Chitungwiza where the ISP has geo-locked lines for sale. If we are to take the Chi-Town case then its hard to argue against TelOne because the price looks to be around US$10.00 cheaper on average.
I’ll be curious to know what you think about Utande’s Harare-less LTE capped packages in the comments below.
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What’s your take?