Vodacom has announced a new offer for hearing impaired customers who will now receive double the value on every SMS bundle purchased. This offer is now available to Vodacom Contract, Top Up and Prepaid customers.

Customers with hearing impairments use SMS as their preferred channel of communication and Vodacom has decided to offer these customers more value to help them stay connected. With this new permanent price offer, customers who purchase an SMS bundle will receive an additional SMS bundle at no extra cost.

Vodacom’s Hearing Impaired specific SMS bundle pricing is as follows:

To qualify for the free bundle (more…)

Today Vodacom announced that it will be launching new smart plans that include unlimited voice calls, unlimited SMSs, loads of data and a range of new value added services. This new offer will be available to contract customers on 07 March 2013.

The proposition introduces tariffs plans that include RED, an offer which comprises three plans that have unlimited voice and/or unlimited text, loads of data and a range of services.

• Data sharing: Customers receive two additional SIM cards that share the same data bundle. Customers can use these SIM cards with two additional devices such as a smartphone and a tablet or for use by another family member.  (more…)

While the iPhone 5 was not a massive upgrade from the previous 4S model, the addition of high speed LTE networking is something a lot of people have been looking for. But it arrived on SA’s shores without LTE enabled for any of our networks.

Problem is that Apple approves networks before they enable LTE on their iPhones – and if the networks dont have Apple’s approval, the phone simply would not connect to the LTE networks, even if they are available. While some might argue that it is typical from Apple to try and control these things, maybe Apple would want more tight control over anything affecting reception after the Antennagate issues of the iPhone 4.

Luckily Vodacom now has LTE enabled for contract iPhone 5 devices – MTN and Cell C has no such support right now, despite carrying the iPhone 5.

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The iPhone is always a difficult phone to review, because by the time it reaches South Africa, interested people have already read everything they need to know about the phone. This time around South Africa got the iPhone quite late compared to previous years, and we were all too pleased when an iPhone 5 finally got delivered to us on launch day by Vodacom. First off, we did not want to rush a quick review of the device. We basically wanted to know one thing – is it still the gold standard in the smartphone world? And that meant spending a few weeks with it. (more…)

Vodacom seems to be the first South African network willing to give their pricing for the iPhone 5, which will launch on 14 December.

On the pre-registration page Vodacom shows the additional cost of an iPhone 5 16GB Black above the specific contract normal subscription cost, which is not really easy to analyze. So we went ahead and threw it all into one spreadsheet.

Here is the iPhone 5 16GB cost, broken down into total cost per month:

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Mobile broadband is the biggest single revenue opportunity in Africa in the immediate and longer term, according to the results of a recent Industry Outlook survey commissioned by Informa Telecoms & Media. This resonates with Informa’s forecasts that suggest that annual mobile data revenues in Africa will reach US$18.5 billion by 2016 accounting for 22% of the region’s total mobile service revenues as compared with 12% in 2011.

Informa Telecoms & Media commissioned the survey for AfricaCom 2012 and will publish the results in its “Africa Telecoms Outlook 2013: Seizing new revenue opportunities” report at the event in Cape Town between 13 – 15 November.

Mobile data growth will power a number of revenue opportunities. The business case for 4G technology will emerge, according to 70% of the survey’s respondents, as the growth of mobile data services continues to accelerate. Giving mobility to broadband services will empower enterprises and especially SMEs to benefit from more mobile working thereby generating greater business agility.

Yet there remains a large constraint on the ideal of connecting Africa. Even the cheapest mobile phone is still not affordable for many there. There is a powerful message from Informa’s survey: seven out of 10 respondents agreed that operators must use their buying power and distribution networks to make more devices available and device manufacturers need to make more affordable devices.

A central message from the survey is the need for mobile network operators (MNOs) to take notice of the changing demands and characteristics of its customers. Nick Jotischky, principal analyst for emerging market analysis at Informa Telecoms & Media comments, “There is more depth to a mobile operator’s customer base in Africa than two or three years ago and, for this reason, MNOs need to gain a greater insight into their customers’ behavior and offer them services that match their individual needs and preferences. Using this insight to design new business models that combine an MNO’s traditional capabilities (mobility, location) with Internet-style services (search, mapping) will enable a more compelling and personalized set of services to a wider variety of customer segments”.

Jotischky will chair a session at AfricaCom on November 13 discussing Africa’s evolving telecoms market with a number of Informa analysts and copies of the report will be made available there.

Vodacom has tripled the number of LTE enabled base stations in its network from just under 70 at launch a month ago to over 200 in Johannesburg and testing has begun in Cape Town.

LTE, which stands for Long Term Evolution, is a new generation of mobile technology with the capability to operate at speeds up to 3 times faster than 3G.

Zunaid Dinath, Vodacom’s Chief Officer Sales and Distribution said that “LTE represents a step change in mobile capabilities. Thanks to faster speeds, we’re able to unlock the true potential of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. LTE has the ability to deliver stutter-free video and almost instantaneous music and picture downloads; and because it’s mobile, we can deliver this experience whether you’re at your office, on the move, or at home.”

In addition to the wider network coverage, Vodacom now has LTE devices on sale at Vodacom World in Midrand and selected Vodacom outlets across Gauteng. Customers can now buy the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, Vodafone K5006 and Alcatel One Touch L100V LTE dongle modems on the following contracts:

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Lilian van Zyl from Moneysmart made this great infographic showing the current cost differences in SA when it comes to mobile broadband. South Africa’s current explosion of mobile phone use have led to massive increases in the amount of data we use. In fact, we are pretty sure that for some some users, the data bundle attached to a contract is of greater concern than the talk time.

Moneysmart‘s infographic focusses on prepaid data rates, and show some very clear differences in price. The current smaller cellular operators are obviously heading for price war in the data sector, which we feel is a lot more relevant than the recent international call decreases. But enough with the chat, see the infographic below:

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