MTN Rwanda has reduced call rates and announced new tariff plans. "The new charges include a 22 percent tariff reduction on MTN to MTN prepaid calls and 15 percent drop for calls on postpaid,” reads part of the statement released yesterday by Rwanda’s telecom sector giant.

According to the statement, calls to other local networks have also been reduced to Rwf50 per minute. Yvonne Manzi Makolo, the MTN chief marketing officer, said the reduction was in line with the company’s new mission to make customers enjoy the company’s services.. "We wanted to ensure that our customers stay connected to their friends, family and businesses at an even more affordable rate,” she said.The changes also include a revamp of MTN Zone, where customers now see their actual tariff rate instead of the percentage discount. A customer can join the new MTN Zone by dialing *135*1#.The telecom firm has also improved the ‘Friends and Family’ product, where the number of lines have doubled from five to 10 and eight local (MTN) numbers that can be called at Rwf20 per minute and two international numbers at 50 per cent discount.According to MTN, the price changes are valid for only prepaid customers on per second billing. The peak tariff for on-net (MTN to MTN) calls is Rwf35 per minute or Rwf0.6per second. There will no longer be off-peak tariff for weekends. The new post-paid tariff shall be Rwf30 per minute and Rwf17.50 per minute will remain during the weekends.Tigo also cut its call rates to Rwf45  per minute across all networks this week.