Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Orange

Telkom Kenya finally launched the Orange brand in Kenya. Here's a quick review.

The rates for calls are not too bad though I suspect Zain still has the lowest intra-network call charges. There's also some offers for phones though many people I know were eagerly waiting to see if the iPhone 3G would be one of these. Sadly its not on the list of business phones available. Also the phones available don't appear to be subsidized much, if at all - the Nokia E71 at 39k which is only up to 3k off the price at the few mainstream shops selling it.

There's also no mention of mobile data packages (GRPS, EDGE or 3G) so if these are not available, there's really no point of having one of those high end business/smart phones on their network as one would end up only using the phone for text messages and calls.

Looking at their broadband packages, I don't see anything really new. A friend of mine once remarked he would never pay more than 3000/- for an unlimited internet package so for him, these packages would be on the higher side. That said, rumour is that the livebox offers pretty fast internet. though costs may be prohibitive for some.

So I'm still waiting for a really good reason to switch networks.

2 comments:

The Wert said...

Yeah. Nothing too interesting to make one switch networks. Had they brought the iPhone, that would be an exciting incentive, even if it was sim-locked, I hope it would be subsidized as the rest of the world!

Pete R Njenga said...

Orange will start selling iPhone next month.
About prices and products, there is really no cause for excitement. Zain so far has the lowest intra-network calling rates.
Econet promises to launch with a 3G and data leveraged strategy, methinks they are actually 'Thinking Different'.

See http://peternjenga.blogspot.com/2008/09/telkom-kenya-launches-orange-mobile.html

What say you?