Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from Computerworld Africa.
Orange Uganda, one of the new telecom companies fighting established players for market share in a very competitive market, has brought Apple’s iPhone to Uganda.
Orange is the first provider in Uganda to offer the iPhone, and this move is bound to give it some leverage at the top end of the market.
Orange competitors MTN Uganda, Zain Uganda and Uganda Telecom have in the past introduced services on the BlackBerry phone, but none had brought the iPhone on the market.
Orange is offering both the iPhone 3G and 3GS—available to users at price plans ranging from six to 24 months. Orange Uganda Chief Executive Philippe Luxcey said the initial excitement that has been registered for the service is immense.
“Since we announced the arrival of iPhone on Orange, we have already seen several hundred customers register their interest on our Web site, orange.ug,” Luxcey said.
“We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G+ mobile broadband network that covers more people in Uganda than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G+ experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans.”
Anisha Sekatawa, the Orange Uganda head of brand and communication, said the offering comes with a package of data, SMS (Short Message Service) and voice. Orange will also provide repair services in case of damage to the iPhones they sell to users.
“We are not just selling a phone and leaving the user to suffer with it when it gets a problem, we will be in a position to repair and fix problems for our customers. It is an original phone, which is well-packaged with other services,” Sekatawa said.
Orange’s service comes with specifically designed iPhone plans and price points, all with excellent data usage options, to ensure that users adopt the service.
The iFlex price plan will offer 400MB of data traffic, 300 minutes of local calls and 240 SMS per month, while the iMax plan includes 800MB per month of data traffic.
The iPhone models on offer range from an 8GB iPhone to a 32GB model with prices ranging from US$1,421 to $3,421.