MTC Namibia has announced this morning that effective immediately the BlackBerry Internet Service weekly and monthly subscription rates have been dropped to almost a third of the previous rates. With a catchy advert and tagline “Transform into a social butterfly”, MTC will see an increase in its subscriber base – BlackBerry owners who were not on BIS because of the high rates, BlackBerry subscribers from Leo Namibia (the competitor, my service provider) and new BlackBerry users.
New BlackBerry Packages
From now on customers can subscribe to the BlackBerry Internet Service but still remain in the Class of Service of their choice. Migration to the BlackBerry Class of Services is no longer necessary as the BIS will be effective parallel to the subscriber’s active Class of Service. Customers can be on T49 and have additional BlackBerry services, provided they have a BlackBerry handset. The BlackBerry Class of Services will no longer be available to customers.
Free minutes or SMS will no longer be included in the BlackBerry Services, but customers will benefit from the offers on the Class of Services that they are on. Eg. If they are on T49 then the T49 rules will apply, or if they are on Aweh, the Aweh rules will apply. Customers can also move between two Class of Services but will still keep their BlackBerry services.
MTC has 2 new packages on BlackBerry – BlackBerry Absolute and BlackBerry Complete. Both options have 7 days or 30 days validity periods. Customers can subscribe to more than one BlackBerry service at a time. If a customer already has the BlackBerry Complete 7 and purchases the BlackBerry Absolute 30 while still having 5 days remaining of the 7 days of the BlackBerry Complete 7, the new validity for the BlackBerry Absolute 30 will only start on the expiry date of the BlackBerry Complete.
Customers will get an expiry reminder SMS 1 day before expiry, and another SMS informing that service has expired.
Apart from the price differences, here are the other differences:
BlackBerry Absolute:
- BBM
- BBMail
- Browser
- Social Networking
- AppWorld
- Instant Messaging
- 10 E-mail addresses
- BES Express Compatibility
- BlackBerry Protect
BlackBerry Complete:
- BBM
- BBMail
- Browser
- Social Networking
- AppWorld
- Instant Messaging
- 1 E-mail Address
Prices for the new BlackBerry Packages:
| BB Service | Price (N$) | Validity (days) |
| Absolute 7 | 39.00 | 7 |
| Absolute 30 | 99.00 | 30 |
| Complete 7 | 19.00 | 7 |
| Complete 30 | 59.00 | 30 |
If you use MTC, BlackBerry Services may be obtained by dialling *682# on your BlackBerry.
Source MTC Namibia