As competition among  telcoms stiffens across East Africa, most operators have rushed to reduce their calling rates over the entire region. The craze has not left the market in Rwanda behind.

Last week Tigo Rwanda introduced a new promotion dubbed ‘Ba Free’ translated "Be Free’ in English. In the new promotion, Tigo subscribers both on pre-and post paid, pay for the first three minutes of calling and, thereafter, will not be billed thus talking for free. 

Nina Ndabaneze, the Marketing Manager of Tigo said on yesterday that she was optimistic of the new Tigo promotion, "Our promotion also emphasises the fact that at Tigo offers a variety of promotions to its customers.”

"Take for example the value of the Tigo SIM-card which gives you the freedom to choose your own number and the opportunity to borrow airtime from Tigo. It also give you the ability to selct your own ringtone. ‘Ba Free’ is another way of expounding on the variety of choices our clients can choose from,” she added.

Ndabaneze explained that Tigo offers clients something interesting all the time. And that ‘Ba Free’ is aligned with the companies triple ‘A’ strategy of offering Affordable, Available and Accessible products and services in Rwanda. 
Recently, the operator also launched another promotion dubbed ‘Tira Tigo’, a product that allows prepaid subscribers to borrow airtime from Tigo, talk and pay later. Eligibility to borrow airtime is based on being on the Tigo network for a period of at least 3 months. 

On the market, Rwandatel which is third national operator, offers the lowest promotional tariffs with the Rwf3 per minute.  

As the customers enjoy the cheap rates, operators are also set to enjoy lower interconnection fees, the move that might lead to further reduction in the industry charges. Currently, the interconnection fee stands at Rwf40 per call.  

In celebrating their 12th year in market, MTN introduced a "Tombola” promotion, where their customers can win certain prizes upon scratching airtime.  
REGIONAL TARIFFS

The price war follows in Ugandan market, were last month, Warid Telecom sparked off the prices war, announcing the slashing the cost of its cross-network calls to Rwf1.3 per second. Zain Uganda, UTL and MTN Uganda followed a few days after, announcing the slashing of prices.  

Zain Kenya which was bought by Bharti Airtel, also recently led a price war in the kenyan market that was followed by a swift cutting of call rates to as low as Rwf19.6/minute across all networks. 

Safaricom countered with a one-month promotion, were subscribers will be able to top up higher denomination ranges between Rwf14.5 and Rwf36.4. Telkom Kenya also followed by cutting rates to Rwf14.5 for calls within its network and Rwf29.1 Off-net.

Ends