It looks like new Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig is a man of his word. When assuming his new position, he hinted that he was on a mission “to shake up the industry.” And by announcing today that Cell C would slash prepaid call rates by more than 34% with a plan called “99 Cents for Real”, he is doing just that.

Here is what Knott-Craig had to say about the move:

The number one priority is I have to make sure that we can build a world class quality network with a footprint which is competitive or better than the other network operators. We cannot build a company without a proper network. This new tariff gives Cell C’s prepaid customers the best voice rate in the market, making it – in most cases – even cheaper to call from Cell C to other networks than it is for our competitors’ own prepaid customers to make on-net calls. I know that pricing alone can not guarantee our success. The next step is lower Mobile Termination Rates. I say again: ‘Price is not a strategy’, but it sure beats the hell out of strategies based on high prices.

The new tariff will launch this Sunday and it is seen as a direct assault on the two established SA mobile operators, MTN and Vodacom.

UPDATE: Vodacom also launched a new promotion today, called Freedom 99. It lets users call to any network for 99c a minute (as opposed to Cell C’s per-second billing). “Customers have been looking for simplicity and for value, and Freedom 99 delivers exactly that. Calls to anyone, anytime, on any network in South Africa are now just 99 cents per minute with Freedom 99. It really is that simple,” said Vodacom marketing head Enzo Scarcella in a press statement.

All eyes on MTN.

[Source: News24, iol]