Press And Media

Mobile Africa Tracker reveals that average postpaid pricing in Africa is down to USD 36.77 per month (previous year: USD 43.12)

London – 27th May 2014– Tariff Consultancy Ltd (TCL) has today launched the second edition of the Tariff Tracker aimed at the fast growing African Mobile segment.

Called TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker, the service surveys pricing from a total of 74 MNOs in 37 countries across Africa and includes 577 price plans in total – of which 358 are postpaid contracts.

The TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker 2014 uses the database and analysis perfected by TCL in the TCL Mobile Broadband and Voice & 3/4G Smartphone Tariff Tracker subscription services which also includes selected pricing from African MNOs.

This service provides a more detailed in depth survey of the African mobile market and tracks in detail the following four main tariff types:

i)    Post- and prepaid domestic voice, SMS, Mobile Data, 3/4G & Smartphone services

ii)   International calling rates from the African MNO to 7 international destinations.

iii)  Roaming pricing from 3 international destinations (UK, USA and South Africa)

iv)  Mobile Broadband tariffs for both Post Paid and Pre Paid services

(All pricing is shown in the survey is either in local currency and in USD.)

Using the unique TCL pricing database, the Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker 2014 survey has identified 10 key post- and prepaid price trends across the African mobile market as follows:

• Average postpaid pricing in Africa is USD 36.77 (previous year: USD 43.12) per month - But within this average there are a wide spread of price plans available which range from below USD 1 per month to above USD 100 USD per month (a total of 27), with the highest plan charged at USD 293 including 5,000 minutes, 100 SMS and 1 GB of data.
• Mobile Broadband & Mobile Data in some countries are now substitutes for fixed line Broadband in Africa– African Mobile Broadband and Mobile Data user allowances being as high as 150 GB per month, with the high mobile data usage allowances charged at a premium. The lowest inclusive allowance is 3 MB and the average inside the bundle price is The average taking all offers into account except those that offer unlimited usage brings the per inside the bundle per 1 GB price to USD 25.68.
• Plans inclusive of minutes are becoming more popular in Africa – over half of the plans i.e. 199 plans, offer inclusive minutes ranging from 1 minute to 1,500 minutes per month with an average of 552 minutes. Some operators in Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan offer unlimited minutes with other operators offering unlimited on-net minutes.
• Plans inclusive of SMS are included in over half of the African postpaid plans which range from as low as 5 (previous year 8) up to 10,000 SMS per month with some operators now offering unlimited SMS.
• Plans inclusive of data now account for 135 out of the 358 plans covered With mobile Data bundle allowances ranging from 5 MB up to 10  GB per month, a trend which is accelerating with the introduction of more high speed HSPA networks.
• The most common postpaid plan including voice and data now a 500 MB user allowance per month – But some 33 per cent (previous update: 24 per cent) of African Mobile Data Post Paid plans have a 1 GB or over Mobile Data allowance per month.
• Prepaid call rates in Africa vary widely – Pre Paid domestic call rates in Africa range from USD 0.016 up to USD 0.44 per minute. Rates vary according to the recharge amount and the time of day called.
• Prepaid SMS rates in Africa also vary widely – Pre Paid domestic SMS rates also vary in Africa and range up to $0.14 USD per SMS, with the average SMS rate across Africa being USD 0.051 per SMS.
• International communication, both roaming and calling abroad, become more attractive as discounting is introduced, with still only a few operators including bundles minutes into a plan.
• African MNOs are introducing a variety of user incentives to differentiate their services. These include the bundling of free or partially subsidised devices, discounts according to call duration, discounts for “on-net” calls, free “on-net” calls and discounts for specific “on-net” calls to pre-registered numbers.

The TCL Mobile Africa Tracker 2014 provides a detailed survey of the key pricing metrics based on current available MNO services in Africa. The survey metrics used in the report are:

• Per Minute call rates – including for “on-net” or “off-net” calls if applicable
• Per Minute call rates including for “peak” or “off-peak” calls if applicable
• SMS rates  - including for “on-net” or “off-net” SMS if applicable
• International roaming rates – from 3 key international destinations back to Africa (USA, South Africa, UK).
• International call rates – from Africa to 7 key international destinations
• Mobile Broadband tariffs – including African post- & prepaid pricing for use with a USB flash modem (dongle) device

In short, the TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker offers a unique insight into the pricing strategies of more than 70 MNOs in one of the most dynamic markets in the world based on rigorous analysis from TCL analysts.

Note to the Editor: About the TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker 2014 – The TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker 2014 service is available on a single user licence and costs GBP 1,295. More information about the TCL Mobile Africa Tariff Tracker service can be found on the TCL website at – www.telecomspricing.com

About TCL (Tariff Consultancy Ltd) – TCL is an international telecoms pricing research & consultancy based in London. TCL provides a range of Tariff Tracker subscription services for the mobile, fixed network & Data Centre markets including the Global LTE Tariff Tracker, Fixed Broadband Tariff Tracker, Mobile Broadband/Mobile Internet/3G Tariff Tracker, Global Voice & Data 3G Smartphone Tariff Tracker & Data Centre Price Tracker. More information about TCL can be found at – www.telecomspricing.com