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Cape Town – Cell C is taking direct aim at rivals with its pricing of the latest iPhone is South Africa.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will launch in the country on October 16 and network operators have been jockeying with pricing of contracts to win over subscribers.
Cell C on Thursday entered the fray with a 16GB iPhone 6s offer for R449 per month of its Epic 150 plan. That makes it cheaper than the Huawei Mate S which will sell for R529 on Vodacom and the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge at R599 on MTN.
MTN offers the Apple device on My MTNChoice 100 for R489 per month while Telkom has announced a starting price of R559 per month. Vodacom pricing is unknown and pre-orders for the device on the operator’s site have closed.
“Cell C customers will also be able to purchase the 32GB and 64GB versions of these devices. The iPhone 6s 64GB will be available at R499 on Epic 150 per month and the 128GB version on Epic 150 for R599. The iPhone 6s Plus 32GB is available on the Epic 150 for R549 and the 128GB for R649,” Cell C said.
Buyout
The junior operator is on a charge to build its subscriber base amid fierce market competition and recently announced that it was offering up to R10 000 to buy subscribers out of contracts with rivals.
Rumours that a potential company might buy Cell C have been swirling since major shareholder Dubai-based Oger Telecom announced that it may want to sell its 75% stake.
French telecom Orange denied having any interest in acquiring Cell C, though the company has ambitions of operating as a mobile virtual network operator in SA.
"Entering the MVNO market in South Africa remains one of the objectives of Orange, in order to be able to provide convergent services to South Africans," Sèbastien Crozier, Orange Horizons CEO told Fin24.
Does the iPhone price convince you to switch to Cell C? Let us know.
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