Cell C finally showed its hand in broadband pricing on Friday as it switched on its third-generation mobile network in the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth.

As expected, the company will offer two broadband packages. The first, which costs R1 499 up-front, including a USB modem capable of 7,2Mbit/s, buys consumers 2GB/month of data for a year for a total of 24GB. The second package, with a 21Mbit/s modem costs R 2 999 and offers 5GB/month of bandwidth, or 60GB over a year.

Out of bundle rates are set at a relatively low 39c/MB.

Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt says the prices are significantly cheaper than data connectivity offered by rivals MTN and Vodacom.

Reichelt says for users who consume 250MB/month, Cell C’s new rates work out to about 33c/MB, versus 60c/MB and 56c/MB on MTN and Vodacom respectively. For people using 1GB/month, the rate falls to 8c/MB versus 29c/MB on both MTN and Vodacom.

He says the rates become even more competitive for heavy bandwidth users. For those who consume 5GB/month, the cost of data on Cell C’s network is 3c/MB versus 19c/MB and 18c/MB on MTN and Vodacom.

“We believe this is a very good and interesting offer,” Reichelt says.

“Why are we doing this? It’s our launch offer and we want to raise interest. And we feel we have to go in very low. Occasionally our network will be a bit wobbly and we’re not saying this network is perfect and experience won’t always be super excellent.

“We don’t want people to feel they are paying too much for something that might still be a little unstable.

“But it’s a very exciting step for us and for our customers because we are making broadband available at a good speed and we’re making it affordable.” — Staff reporter, TechCentral

TechCentral is covering the launch event in Port Elizabeth. Check back regularly on Friday for more…