Super Ongea Tariff – the tariff where the price moves, Michael Joseph does the service intro View Comments
It was just a matter of time for Super Ongea tariff to come to Safaricom. On a trip to Uganda last year, I met one Gilbert Arum – Regional Director East & Central Africa at Ericsson who told me of a deployment on MTN called MTN zones, which depending on network traffic, location and time, MTN would offer it’s subscribers a bargain to call, with discounts of up to 95%. I remember one nite seeing 88% off and i went like….what!!! Yes, they were giving 88% off. It was almost 3am and anyone I would have called would have been deep asleep.
Interesting note: I seem to remember the discussion on MTN Zones lending to the development of the concept by some local devs who went on revenue share on otherwise non existent call minutes. Will confirm and update you all.
But Michael Joseph and his Super Ongea tariff, I feel will see tremendous uptake. Why? Because kenyans have peculiar calling habits! I look forward to relatives in the rural areas calling more often. Some of them are so far flung that their Super Ongea offer will be on a perpetual 90% off .
“This great invention will give our prepay customers real value for money through exciting discounts in these tough economic times when everyone is looking for authentic bargains,” said Michael Joseph, Safaricom Chief Executive Officer.
The service offers discounts of up to 90% for prepaid subscribers. The Super Ongea tariff has a base call rate of Ksh 8 per minute, with a varying discount rate which adapts according to the network and area congestion. The lower the network usage, the larger the discount.
Through this new initiative Safaricom aims to change the traditional usage patterns and further stimulate call rates during times of low network utilization. This new tariff can mean big savings to Safaricom subscribers making Safaricom to Safaricom calls during peak hours, but there is however the risk of paying higher prices in off-peak times.
Supa Ongea Tariff – FAQs
• How much will I be charged?
• The base tariff will be Ksh 8.00 per minute. The discounts range from 0% to 90% meaning the lowest calling charge will be 80 cents.
• Per second billing applies.
• The discounts are applicable to Safaricom to Safaricom calls only.
• SMS remain at Ksh. 3/50. All other costs remain unchanged
• Calls to other local network is Ksh.15 /- and SMS is Ksh.5/-
• The validity period for each single discount value available at anyone time and location shall be at multiples of one hour with a minimum of one hour
• The discounts will NOT be offered when customers are roaming
How does the subscriber know the calling rate applicable?
• The call rates available will be communicated to via Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)
• Subscribers will need to activate the Cell Broadcast Service in order to see the calling rates on their handset.
• Subscribers will also be able to enquire the prevailing calling rate via Free USSD service (*155#)
• If you are on the Safaricom 3G network and using a 3G handset, you might NOT receive the Cell Broadcast message.
• The Cell Broadcast service will be available to ALL Safaricom subscribers, PrePay and PostPay whether subscribed to the tariff or not.
How are the discounts determined?
• The discounts assigned per zone per period shall be as determined by Safaricom from time to time.
• The discounts are determined from network capacity utilization data for each cell
• Depending on the cell overlap conditions, different discounts may display on different handsets at the same time and location.
• The applicable discount will be the discount at the cell the subscriber is attached to at the point of initiating the call.
Users will be well advised to familiarize themselves with this tariff to ensure maximum savings, but on the whole it seems that savings are indeed in store for Super Ongea users.
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