Tigo lowers tariffs by 27.5 per cent in Q4

What you need to know:

The TCRA quarterly report for the third quarter ended in September last year pointed Tigo as a network with highest tariffs for both local and international communications, compared with the rest of the networks. The new changes appear in the fourth quarterly report ended in December.

Dar es Salaam. Tigo has reduced its tariffs for both local and international calls, within and outside network as well as sending short messages (SMS) by an average of 27.5 per cent during the fourth quarter compared to the third one, the quarterly report by Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has revealed.

The TCRA quarterly report for the third quarter ended in September last year pointed Tigo as a network with highest tariffs for both local and international communications, compared with the rest of the networks. The new changes appear in the fourth quarterly report ended in December.

To make calls within the Tigo network subscribers paid Sh360 per minute (before VAT) in the third quarter, but it went down to Sh261 in the fourth quarter, a decrease of Sh99 (27.5 per cent).

However, the tariff in the fourth quarter is still higher than quarterly weighted average Tariff (WAT) of Sh249 per minute.

Again, the third quarter report shows that to call off network, Tigo subscribers were paying Sh480 per minute while in the current report tariffs went down to Sh348. The Sh132 decrease was equivalent to 27.5 per cent.

In calling other East African countries, Tigo subscribers paid Sh1, 022 in the third quarter while in the next quarter they had to pay Sh739, a decrease of Sh283 (27.7 per cent).

Tariffs for making call to East African countries were lower than fourth quarterly Weighted Tariff (WAT) of Sh745.

For International calls beyond East Africa, Tigo charged Sh1, 737 per minute during the third quarter but tariffs went down to Sh1,258 in the fourth quarter, a decrease of Sh479 (27.6 per cent). It was also lower than the fourth quarterly Weighted Tariff (WAT) of Sh1, 273.

According to the report, Tigo subscribers also paid less to send short message (SMS) in the fourth quarter as they were charged at Sh51, lower than the Sh70 subscribers paid in third quarter. This represented a decrease of Sh19, equivalent to 27.14 per cent.

It charged the same amount with the fourth quarterly weight average tariffs of Sh51. For international short messaging, Tigo has the rate of Sh215 in the third quarter while in fourth one it went down to Sh156, a decrease of Sh59 (27.4 per cent).