Cellular Even Ground - Billing at least!

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It is now even ground for the method of billing cellular calls!!

Yes.. Miphone (Centennial) is now billing PER SECOND!!
and their ads are saying just how much cheaper it is with them !!

Be reminded however that MiPhone is only PREPAID !!!

Is this the COMPETITION we haev been waiting to see?? I guess so and look forward to more developments in this area!!

Who Wins?? - the consumer of course (at leat those suing MiPhone for now) ;D

[Chris]

I predict that the real level ground will be when all cellular providers charge the same call rates for the respective packages. What they will use to differentiate themselves will be service quality, coverage area, value added services, data services, etc. Oh what a happy day that will be. ;D

[quote author=Chris link=board=1;threadid=410;start=0#msg2956 date=1043605813]
I predict that the real level ground will be when all cellular providers charge the same call rates for the respective packages. What they will use to differentiate themselves will be service quality, coverage area, value added services, data services, etc. Oh what a happy day that will be. ;D
[/quote]
I believe that that is what is in store for Jamaica also. Billing will be of least concern when all the providers lock head to head in competition, that will be easily be fought out. They all will have relatively the same rate. What it all boils down to as you said is the coverage area, the quality of the coverage, because you can cover the whole island, but the service is disgusting. I think Jamaica will also be seeing much better packages, such as text message packages, and data packages, that's what it all boils down to. Digicel needs to pull up their socks if they plan to keep their 500 000+ customers.

They already have something over C&W and Centennial..the coverage, put that to good use, enable wap, in some sense WAP is better because that uses airtime. While GPRS is data, you get charged for how much you download, and that can be quite costly.

I also believe with their new Earth Station coming in effect anytime soon, they will dominate cellular long distance, and also might gain some profits from other long distance providers using them as their backbone.

[odsamuels]

You didn't hear it from me but look out for DigiRoam... I think that is going to be the bomb... and just another opportunity to show up Cable and Wireless.

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OD,

What exactly can we expect from DigiRoam?... evene though we know that you did not tell us

[odsamuels]

Well, what I'm not going to tell you ;D is that there are quite a few caribbean islands that C&W has been for some time now, offering cellular "service" (and I use the term loosely). DigiCel is going to be establishing themselves in other Caribbean islands and offering DigiRoam. The reason it is DigiRoam and not just plain old Roaming, is because it is not going to be done in the traditional sense. The Main switch is still going to be here in Ja handling the volume, but based on the phone numbers u r billed accordingly. So u will be able to have a Digicel phone and go... hmmm... let's see.. for example St. Vincent and the Grenadines and be able to still receive service.

So there, that's all that I'm not going to tell you for now.

[Chris]

It sounds like a really good package (should be cheaper too) for regular travellers of the Caribbean. This is exactly the type of added features/services that we should expect after prices and rates no longer differentiate one provider over another.

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That would be service indeed!

Yup, these are the things that will determine a provider's fate in the market now. Rates will no longer be the rave in a few months, it's all going to be about value added services, such a digiroam! I believe they will still be ahead in this mobile race, they still have a few more tricks up their sleves. Soon the will have over 1, 000 000 customers. lol..