TELECOM WARS: Choosing between ‘scratching to win’ and ‘talking with freedom’ on Rwanda’s telecom market

Last week MTN Rwanda launched a ‘scratch and win’ promotion. The same day Tigo Rwanda announced that it would be (this Monday) officially launching an exciting ‘talk for free’ promotion called ‘Be Free’ where Tigo to Tigo callers would only pay the first 3 minutes and thereafter talk endlessly, free of charge. At the same time Rwandatel is running a Rwf3 per minute promotion and the company claims the promo has attracted over 30 percent more subscribers since it was launched. Rwandatel says that the Rwf3 promotion is paying off, attracting an additional 150,000 Rwandans on to its networks. While some pundits say that Rwandatel cannot be seen as a heavyweight in provision of the voice product, the company is concentrating on being dominant on the data provision segment. Various promotions and price cuts undertaken by the three operators comprising the Rwandan telecoms sector, in the last five weeks, have left consumers as the biggest beneficiaries as the price wars enter a new phase. The competition has generated some trivialities and cheekiness that Rwandans have, for a long time now, yearned for in this newly open and liberalised market. MTN recently announced that for its 12 years’ anniversary there would be 12 days worth of 80 percent discount on MTN-to-MTN calls. Tigo also emphasised that the company’s Rwf 10 per minute promotion was actually a better deal as it was an 89 percent discount. In its advert, Tigo gleefully pointed out that Rwandans did not have to wait for 12 years to enjoy such a discount. While I thought this was a genuine competitive, informative and aggressive way of wooing subscribers, I read in the press that ‘MTN was irked by the Tigo’ advert, and that Tigo had retracted the advert out of mutual respect. Isn’t it true that subscribers including those of MTN had had to wait 12 years to see this kind of discount? Does it take one to be an Albert Einstein to figure out that discounts have come about because of the competitive environment brought about by new players like Tigo Rwanda and Rwandatel? If there hadn’t been any kind of competition would MTN have announced the 80 percent discount? In my view MTN owes us users much more why enjoy only 12 days (of discount) when we have been loyal clients for 12 years? The timing of Tigo “Crazy Week” a few weeks ago reveals, among other things, the extent of the ‘bare knuckles’ war being fought within the telecom industry. It reveals how Tigo’s ‘David and Goliath’ strategy is being used by its top management to gain more ground. Tigo subscribers were able to make absolutely free calls that were only charged for the first five minutes for all its prepaid subscribers with 2G-3G prepaid connections. The only caveat to the promotion was that the free calls lasted for 30 minutes.While analysing the unfolding of the competition, one can say with some level of certainty that Tigo Rwanda has incorporated a dedicated, smart way of marketing, what one can refer to as a G-Unit whose specific task is to upstage its much larger competitors. It is quite obvious that Tigo’s G-Unit goes about its duties utilising their much sang about triple ‘A’ strategy (Affordable, Accessible and Available service and products). These are credentials that are surely winning the hearts and minds of many more Rwandans. Mobile phone users including those in Rwanda are more interested in affordable tariffs and an easily accessible network. The market itself is directing the services where they are needed at affordable prices. This helps create a wealthier generation that is ready to utilise telecom service to do business. Increased competition should allow Rwanda to obtain more value from the telecom players. The main beneficiaries of this intense competition are the Rwandan consumers. The current wave of promotional offers by MTN and Tigo can thus be seen as a response strategy by the two operators to fend off Rwandatel’s repositioning. Rwandatel’s offer of Rwf 3 per minute, the lowest tariff so far was announced after RURA statistics published in August which listed Tigo as an emerging competitor with over 500,000 clients, a feat that had taken the competitor over 7 years to achieve. Sources within Rwandatel are even saying that the battles have only just started. The giant elephant has just been woken up from its deep slumber. Rwandatel, being the fixed line and data incumbent, still holds sway on the telecoms sector expansion process in the coming days, if the effects of its last price cuts are anything to go by. However it will be interesting to see how revellers will be choosing between, ‘scratching to win ’soccer balls, t-shirts or water bottles; or ‘scratching to talk with maximised freedom.’ Ojiwah@gmail.com