JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—South African mobile network operator Vodacom has launched a new prepaid tariff option offering the cheapest peak time prepaid rates in the country.
The product, called SmartStep, charges prepaid calls at 2.70 rand (US$0.24) for the first minute and at 1.55 rand (US$0.14) for every minute thereafter anytime of the day or night. Peak time short message service (SMS) messages on the service are charged at 0.75 (US$0.06), while off-peak SMS messages are charged at 0.25 rand (US$0.02) per message.
The network’s prepaid subscribers are now able to change between prepaid tariff plans for free once every 30 days simply by dialing a number from their handsets.
This recent salvo in the battle to retain and gain prepaid subscribers in South Africa follows the tariff structures announced by the third mobile network operator Cell C.
