The Church Of Christ - Ghana

Article by Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana

Curled from Myjoyonlie news site on 11th Sepember 2011 and makes an interesting reading.

"It is established that there is a domestic telecoms voice calls price war inGhana. But the war extends to data services as well, which is where theindustry is moving now.

There is no doubt that Mobile Number Portability (MNP)has a lot to do with the current price war. It has become like a catwalk; everyoperator is trying to look good on the aisle; and they are using fair and foulmeans to do so.

Speaking of MNP, it is important to point out quicklythat porting a data card from one network to the other means the customer mustbuy a modem from the new network because, the ported data card would not workin the modem of the previous network, even though the number is the same.

Each of the telecom operators have been bragging abouthaving the highest internet speed at the lowest price. And they each do sopassionately, as if they have all the details about what competition isoffering.

For instance, the Consumer Manager at Tigo, Rosy Fynntold this writer “we may not have the best price for pay-as-you-go, but we havethe most affordable offers on bundles.”

The Innovation Manager, Marketing at MTN Ghana, NanaOsei Afrifa also claimed “MTN has the lowest data bundle rate of 0.8 Ghanapesewas per megabyte at a speed of 7.2megabits per second, which is the fasteston the market – seven thousand times faster than any other network is offering.Even our pay-as-you-go rate is 6 Ghana pesewas per megabyte which is threetimes lower than the 20Gp offered by our closest competitor. We also give 50%discount on all bundles at night and about 70% per cent of our customers takeadvantage of that.”

Vodafone Ghana claims their internet cafes have thefastest internet broadband speed in Africa (40megabits/second) and the bestnetwork quality, which gives value for every pesewa paid for Vodafone data andvoice services.

Airtel also claims to have a bundle that offers 1.2Gpper megabyte of data download and a speed of up to 7.2megabits per second.

Expresso is the only telco that does not exercise itsbragging right on internet speed and prices. It is not surprising becauseExpresso does not brag about anything at all.

But those were just the claims; the telcos are entitledto their claims, however no one telco is entitled to its own facts. Thisarticle would state the bare facts for the public to measure the claims againstthe facts.

First of all, it is important to point out that Expressooffers the lowest prices of 5Gp per megabyte on pay-as-you-go, which ismarginally lower than MTN’s 6Gp. Vodafone and Airtel do 20Gp per megabyte onpay-as-you-go.

Tigo’s pay-as-you-go offer is the most expensive on themarket. The credit starts running out once the modem gets connected, even ifyou are not browsing the internet.

But the magnifying glass is on the bundles on thevarious networks, because that is what they all brag about.

MTN

The market leader, MTN has seven mobile broadbandprepaid bundles and three extra for postpaid. The bundles have no brand names.The prices range between 0.8Ghana pesewas and 3.3Ghana pesewas. The lowestprice on MTN, which is the 0.8Gp, is on only one unadvertised postpaid plan(GHC800 for 100GB), but the lowest price on an advertised prepaid bundle is1.5Gp per megabyte, and that is on the 200MB for GHC3 bundle; and it is foronly 24 hours, meaning after 24 hours one loses every unused credit on thatbundle.

Besides, on MTN’s postpaid bundles, if one outruns thecredit in the bundle, every additional credit consumed costs 3Gp per megabyteand not 0.8Gp. But compared with other pay per use offers on the market, that3Gp is the lowest.

MTN does not tell the consumer its lowest rate is ononly one postpaid plan, and that, prepaid customers can only get as low as1.5Gp per megabyte. They usually quote the lowest, as if that rate applies toall their bundles. They don't talk about the other bundles that cost between3.3Gp and 1.5Gp per megabyte. Customers only need to dial *138# and the bundlesspeak for themselves.

It is worth noting that MTN’s 0.8Gp/megabyte bundlesells at GHC800. They even reduce the price by 50% at night. But it would beinteresting to find out how many MTN customers actually patronize a bundleworth GHC800. It could as well be that the bundle exists only in name becauseit is convenient for MTN to cite it as the lowest on the market, but it may beof no relevance to customers.

But it is worth noting that MTN says it gives 50%discount on all bundles at night and that brings the lowest prepaid rate to0.75Gp/megabyte, which is by far the lowest on the market. This also means the0.8Gp/megabyte on the GHC800 bundle also comes to 0.4Gp/megabyte at night. MTNsays more than 70 per cent of customers use the internet at night, which meansmajority are taking advantage of the huge discount at night.

Again, MTN claims the 7.2megabits/second maximum speedon its 3.5G network is the highest default speed on the market, but themagnifying glass would show that is just the theory and nothing close to thereality. Again, is it the speed one person gets at a time or it is sharedspeed? MTN would never make that clear. Besides, Vodafone also claims to havemodems with speeds up to 28.8megabits/second.

EXPRESSO

Expresso has five mobile broadband bundles on its EVDOnetwork – Cliq, Cliq a Day, Cliq Regular, Cliq Premium and Cliq Gold. Theprices per megabyte range between 2Gp and 0.92Gp. Expresso has a bundle thatoffers 1Gp per megabyte and another that offers 1.2Gp per megabyte. All thoseare much lower than the lowest price on MTN’s prepaid bundle.

Expresso claims to have internet speeds of between oneand 3.1megabits per second on its EVDO bundles. Expresso is a CDMA network andoperates at a frequency of 800Megahertz, which, according to experts, couldgive customers better real speed than on the GSM networks in Ghana, whichoperate on a frequency of 2.1gegahertz. But Expresso would need enough cellsites to leverage that strength.

TIGO

Tigo has four bundles; Lite Browser, Super Browser, MegaBrowser and Ultra Browser.

The highest price per megabyte on Tigo is 1.3Gp and thelowest is 1.15Gp, which is also lower than MTN’s lowest for prepaid but higherthan Expresso’s.

But Tigo claims a lesser maximum speed of3.6megabits/second on its 3.5G. Again, that may not be relevant as the evidencewould show in this article that speed is affected by several factors outsidethe control of service providers.

AIRTEL

Airtel also has four bundles; Airtel Lite, Airtel Extra,Airtel Daily @ Phone and Airtel Daily @ PC.

The highest price on Airtel is the Airtel Daily @ PC,which is 10Gp per megabyte, and it is also the highest on the market. Airtelsays its prices and others are under review. The lowest advertised price onAirtel is 1.5Gp per megabyte. Airtel claims to have a bundle called RebateExtra that offers 1.2Gp per megabyte (12GB for GHC150), but that is notincluded in bundles displayed on its website; and the magnifying lens shows theprice is not 1.2Gp/megabyte; it is 1.25Gp/megabyte. Simple mathematics, so whywould Airtel quote 1.2?

Airtel also claims to offer 3.5G speeds of up to7.2megabits per second, just like MTN, but Airtel does not claim it is thefastest, because it is not. At least Airtel admits it is shared speed and notnecessarily speed for each customer.

VODAFONE

Vodafone has a total of seven prepaid and postpaidbundles; One Day, One Week, Browser, Streamer and Downloader for prepaid; andBundle XL and Bundle XXL under postpaid.

The highest price per megabyte on Vodafone is 3.3Gp justlike it is on MTN, and the lowest price is 1.6Gp, which is marginally higherthan MTN’s 1.5Gp for prepaid. Vodafone claimed to have a bundle that offers1.24Gp/megabyte, but there is no evidence to support that. Even if it is so,that rate is still higher than MTN’s 0.8Gp on postpaid, Tigo’s 1.15Gp onprepaid, and Expresso’s 0.92Gp.

But on paper, Vodafone claims to have speeds of up to28.8megabits/second on a 3.5G, which is four times MTN’s 7.2megabits/second,and yet MTN claims its 7.2megabits per second is “seven thousand times fasterthan what competition is offering”.

So why would MTN claim that it’s 7.2megabits per secondis the fastest on the market? Vodafone offers from one megabit/second upwardson fixed broadband; and that is what MTN compares its modem speed to, and notto Vodafone’s highest modem speed of 28.8megabits/second. MTN convenientlycompares apples with oranges; besides, 7.2 is not “seven thousand times” higherthan 1; simple mathematics.

Obviously MTN's postpaid 0.8Gp/megabyte is the lowest onthe market (on paper), but its 7.2megabits/second is not the fastest advertiseddefault modem speed on the market; Vodafone advertises the fastest of28.8megabits per second. But the lowest prepaid rate on the market isExpresso’s 0.92Gp on Expresso Cliq Gold. The highest bundle rate for prepaidand postpaid, is Airtel’s [email protected], which is 10Gp per megabyte.

The worst pay-as-you-go offer is Tigo’s and the mostaffordable pay-as-you-go is on Expresso, 5Gp/megabyte. But Tigo’s highestprepaid bundle rate of 1.3Gp/megabyte is the lowest upper limit compared withMTN, and Vodafone’s 3.3Gp, Expresso’s 2Gp and Airtel’s 10Gp.

It is critical to note that most of the bundles of timelimits of between 24 hours, one week, 15 days and one month, while a few, usuallythe ones that have high upfront payments, have unlimited usage time. Butunlimited usage time does not mean the credit is infinite.

It is also important to note that the amount of creditone buys has nothing to do with how long one could spend on the internetbecause while on the internet, some software programmes and websites updateautomatically and that eats into the credit and cuts down on how long one coulduse that credit for.

GLO

Glo has not started yet, but they have already startedboasting of speed like never before, or that like never before. We live to see.

SPEEDS

For those networks which claim to offer data speeds totheir customers (and not all networks do so), they are citing the theoreticalmaximum speed, which can only be achieved under perfect or laboratoryconditions, and it refers only to the speed between the cell site and thecustomer. It is virtually unheard of for a customer to achieve this speed inreal-world situations. But they throw those figures out there for two reasons;to brag and secondly because those are the only figures they can throw outthere. The reality is totally different. But some admit in private that speedsare affected by numerous factors beyond them.

The first limiting factor is the signal strength thecustomer is getting from the cell site, which can depend on distance, frequencyused by the network, and obstructions such as walls or other buildings – mostpeople use internet indoors. A network having a cell site closer to you, orusing a lower transmitting frequency, will produce better results, but notalways predictably. Also, if you are moving while using the internet, the datawill likely vary.

Again, a cell site is usually being used by other customersnear you – so its maximum speed is shared by all the customers in thatneighborhood at that time, and the speed you experience will depend on how manyothers there are and what they are doing on the internet. If they (or you) arejust reading web pages, it is not using too much data. But if anyone iswatching or downloading video or audio, it is a bigger burden on the networkand things will slow down.

Inside a network, the facilities that bring the signalfrom the cell site to the central equipment is also shared among many users,and can slow down performance. Furthermore, the central equipment can becomecongested, and the network’s connection to the international internet as wellas local internet can be overburdened and slow things down.

A customer’s perception of performance can also beaffected negatively if he is trying to access a website that is alsooverloaded, as popular websites are prone to from time to time. Also, acustomer’s operating system such as Windows, his anti-virus protection, andother software can be downloading software updates which are important to keepthe computer running smoothly and safely, but this also can make the internetconnection seem slow if you are using it at the same time.

So speed on the internet depends on several factors thatthe telecom operators have no control over, and yet they promise heaven as ifthey control everything and can prove that the customer is actuallyexperiencing that speed. And while a customer could look at his modem softwareto see how the data is flowing at any given moment, there is no simple way forthe customer to determine his average speed.

Similarly, although the National CommunicationsAuthority can measure data speed, this may not produce a number that is usefulto consumers, as the individual experience depends on so many differentfactors.

In my personal experience as a consumer I have found,not based on scientific research though, that speeds on MTN, Expresso’s Cliq,and Tigo’s 3.5G modems are just about okay. You cannot really place one aheadof the other, because there is no obvious difference. Vodafone modems have notproven to be fast enough in my experience, but their internet café has alsoshown to be just about okay. I do not know about the 40 megabits/second speed theyclaim to have, and it is not clear if that 40 megabits applies to each user, oris shared among all users present in the café at a given time.

By the way, how sustainable are these offers being putforward by the telecom operators? That is for another day, however it is abouttime the regulator, NCA, woke up and sat up to ensure some sanity in the claimsand counter claims to supersonic speeds and low prices, which do not march theevidence. Otherwise we only await the day a telecoms operator will claim“customers can now speak to God on our network,” and of course, get away with it."