233 Tech.

Zain Contract Phones Explained

Posted on 06. Nov, 2009 by Nana Kwabena Owusu in Real Tech

So I posted earlier on an announcement by Zain on contract phone packages. I also promised I would find out additional information and all the fine print involved so you could make the ‘To Do or Not To Do’ decision properly.

So I contacted Zain and asked a few questions.

Bundled Phone Services

The packages include the same bundled phone services ;

• 2000 mins of voice calls
• 200 SMS
  
• 15 mins of video calls
• 10 MB data

Yes, it really is 2000 mins (about 33.3 hours) of talktime and based on Zain Prepaid Tarrifs would be worth about GHC 240.00 per month. However this and the additional bundled phone services are all applicable within the Zain network ONLY.

It still is a great offer even for on net calls only and I did a little table to show the value of the bundled phone services.

Phone Models & Payment

For me this is the most exciting part of the package. Get a new phone and pay for it over 24 months. Granted some may feel like 24 months is a long time but I will get back to that. Lets oohh and aahh over the models first. The estimated prices used are based on the lowest prices on Amazon.

Platinum (GHC 80.00 per month)

BlackBerry Bold (Est. Retail Price: $550)

Nokia E90 (Est. Retail Price: $660)

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (Est. Retail Price: $490)

Silver (GHC 60.00 per month)

BlackBerry Pearl Flip (Est. Retail Price: $250)

BlackBerry Javelin (Curve 8900)   (Est. Retail Price: $415)

Nokia E71 (Est. Retail Price: $330)

Gold (GHC 40.00 per month)

Samsung L700 (Est. Retail Price: $115)

(Note: There is one more Gold package phone, can’t find model info, will verify and update)

Now back to the 24 months which drew a loud “that’s too much money going to Zain” from a friend when we discussed this issue. Is it really? Lets use the Silver package and a BlackBerry Pearl to analyse this.

So 24 months at GHC 60 per month gives GHC 1,440. The retail price for a unlocked SIM free Pearl 8220 is $252 (GHC 378, assuming 1 US Dollar = 1.5 Ghana Cedis) on Amazon. This means on the surface it seems like Zain is charging approx. 3.8 times the price of the phone.

It doesn’t really equate in that way, we must account for inflationary differences between now and 2011
(inflation rises quickly in Ghana) when final payments are due and also account for  some profit.  Its similar really to how mortgages and car loan payments work, except this is in local currency and not dollar indexed, thankfully.

Also don’t forget the GHC 252.oo phone services bundle.

Additional Fine Print

1. These packages are available only as  postpaid plans which means you need to sign up for the Zain postpaid service which requires a GHC 100.00 deposit and other requirements like proof of address, common with most postpaid plan sign ups.

2. If you decide to get any of the BlackBerry phones then there are two options; use the BlackBerrry as any regular smartphone or turn on the ‘BlackBerry Service’. The BlackBerry Service is RIM’s proprietary push technology required for push email, access to the in-built browser (without which some apps don’t work), the BlackBerry Messenger and some other services.

There are two flavours; the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) for individuals and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) for corporate accounts. BIS is an additional GHC 35 per month and BES an additional GHC 40 per month but both come with unlimited (for how long?)monthly data on Zain.

3. 10MB of monthly data is inadequate and you would therefore require additional data either through prepaid or postpaid plans.  Zain is flexible and allows postpaid data plans with prepaid voice services.

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Well there you have it. I’ve tried to lay out what this really entails and its left with weighing your options as to whether this works for you or not. Personally, it may actually be one of the best ways to get a Bold or Javelin. Unless of course the other telcos come out with even more fantastic offers. Hope springs eternal!

Ps. If  (or is ‘When’ better) the other telcos offer similar packages we’ll do a ‘Value Fight’ and compare the offerings.

Pss. If I forgot something important, remind me by dropping a comment.

Related posts:

1. Zain announces contract phones
2. BB Essentials: BlackBerry Internet Service (Part 1)
3. MTN BlackBerry service for Pay-as-you-go customers
4. The changing face of competition in Ghana’s mobile market

Tags: conditions, contracts, Ghana, phone plans, telecoms, terms, wireless plans, zain