DATA BUNDLES SHOULD NOT BE A LUXURY BUT A NECESSITY - MTN BOSS

By Moses Oketayot
Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda Chief Executive officer has said that mobile internet bundles should not be a luxury but a necessity in the digital era.
“We don’t want data to be a luxury product. We want data to be affordable for everyone, and it is by giving much more value in those small daily bundles that enable everybody to participate in the digital world,” he said
He made these statements on Thursday at their headquarters in Kampala, as the telecom giant repackaged and launched bigger data bundles at the same existing prices. This move makes MTN’s daily data bundles more affordable, giving customers more MBs at no extra cost.

Vanhelleputte further noted that the move is a continuous effort by the company to deliver value for customers at the most affordable pricing and continue driving our customers’ progress through connectivity.
“We have revised our daily data offers permanently to give more value to our customers, because it’s our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” Vanhelleputte commented.
These new offers focus on the smaller, most frequently used data bundles by our customers. The repackaged daily data bundles have more MBs but maintain the existing price, giving customers more data for the same old price. For instance, at UGX 500/-, customers will get 65MB instead of 40MB while at UGX 1000/-, they will get 165MB instead of 100MBs. The offer doesn’t apply to freedom, and bigger volume data bundle users according to the CEO because they already have big discounts included in the pricing.

To complement the customer benefit, MTN has invested significantly in optimizing and rolling out of new 4G data network sites across the country to enhance positive customer experiences. A recent report from a survey carried out by a global telecom monitoring and testing firm, Rohde & Schwarz, in the last quarter of 2021 ranked MTN’s data as the best in the country in terms of quality of user experience as well as speed, reliability and coverage.
When asked whether the increase in the daily data bundle implies a reduction in the cost of providing internet services, Vanhelleputte had this to say: “It is not that the business dynamics have changed but it is a give back to the smaller users to be able to benefit from the pricing that the bigger data bundle users are experiencing.”
Vanhelleputte also said that the decision to increase the bundles was due to the fact that 90% of mobile data subscribers on the network use daily bundles for their internet needs.
According to the CEO, there are OVER five million mobile data users monthly.