Cell C, which launched its third-generation (3G) mobile network in the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth on Friday, is playing up its launch offering of two broadband modems with 24GB and 60GB data bundles.

But the company has also quietly introduced two new data-only products at prices that are significantly lower than the offerings that are bundled with modems and much cheaper than anything offered by rivals MTN and Vodacom.

The two products that Cell C is playing up cost R1 499 and R2 999 up-front for 2GB/month and 5GB/month of data respectively for a period of 12 months, all-inclusive. The more expensive offering has a 21Mbit/s modem. The cheaper product comes with a 7,2Mbit/s device.

But TechCentral has learnt that Cell C is also providing two data-only products for R999 and R1 999. They offer users the same bandwidth that’s available on the modem bundles, namely 24GB and 60GB, split up over 12 months.

On the high-end data-only product, that works out to as little as R33,33/GB, a fraction of the cost of data from rival mobile providers. This per-gigabyte rate is more comparable, in fact, to fixed-line broadband tariffs.

On the R999 data-only product, the effective per-gigabyte rate is R41,62. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral