Vodacom is taking direct aim at its biggest rival, MTN, announcing a new prepaid tariff plan, Anytime Per Second, on Tuesday that competes head-on with MTN’s One Rate plan.

MTN recently cut the price of its One Rate calling plan from R1,75/minute to R1,20/minute, undercutting the new Vodacom Free4Sho prepaid plan that also costs R1,20/minute but which is billed per minute, making it more expensive. However, the Free4Sho plan also includes 57 minutes of free calling per hour for on-network (Vodacom to Vodacom) calls lasting more than three minutes.

Both MTN’s One Rate and Vodacom’s Anytime Per Second are billed per second from the moment the call is initiated.

The rates are still above smaller rivals Cell C and 8ta/Telkom Mobile, which charge 99c/minute and an effective 95c/minute respectively.

The new Vodacom prepaid plan comes into effect immediately.

“Vodacom’s latest offer is a simple flat rate plan offering anytime calling to any network across South Africa,” the operator says in a statement. Calls qualify for free “night shift” airtime, offering 60 minutes of free calls between midnight and 5am for seven days with every recharge of R12 or more.

Vodacom now offers three prepaid plans, Anytime Per Second, Daily Free Calls (previously Free4Sho) and Vodacom4Less, which is similar to MTN’s popular Zone product and offers dynamic discounts to customers based on the time of day, network load and other factors. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media