MTN Uganda has today announced that is offering 2 Uganda shillings per second calling rate to its subscribers for calling other MTN customers.

However, the 2 shillings per second tariff will apply to calls to five favourite numbers of any customer’s choosing and they must be MTN subscribers.

MTN Uganda CEO Themba Khumalo (L) with Makerere University Vice Chancellor - Prof. Venasius Baryamureeba at a recent function

MTN Chief Executive Officer Themba Khumalo says the new call rate offer is part of their Yarribaa offering to reward the over six million loyal customers. The offer is under MTN Uganda’s new product codenamed MTN Friends.

“Most customers make more than 60% of their calls to four people. We are catering for the larger base of customers, and giving them an extra number to place in this special category,” Khumalo explained in a news release.

Although telecom companies in Uganda launched a price war that saw Zain, Warid telecom, Orange Uganda and Uganda Telecom adopting 3 shillings per second call offer to all networks, MTN has been hesitant to reduce call rates across all networks, reasoning that about 90% of calls made by MTN subscribers are made within the MTN network.

MTN is currently offering a 3 shilling per second call rate to MTN subscribers to call MTN numbers, and a 5 per second call rate to MTN subscribers to call other networks.

The 2 shilling per second offer, the lowest call rate on the market (which is equivalent to 80% on the MTN Zone-another MTN product) is expected to make MTN customers to keep calling more within the same network, and thus make more money for the South African telecom giants.

“We started the six months of Yarribaa with a promotional tariff on September 27, 2010, and the excitement of Yarribaa is gaining momentum. The thrill of being an MTN customer is being felt across more than six million subscribers,” Khumalo says.

It is not clear how other telecoms service providers in Uganda will respond to this new MTN lowest call rate offer, but the prospect that 6 million of Uganda’s estimated 9million mobile phone subscribers might not call either of the other networks is likely to force the telecom companies to come up with another lower call rate- and Ugandan customers will be gladly waiting.

Weinformers Media