Subscribers welcome QCell’s suspension
of free calls
 |
| Mobile phone users in Zimbabwe in what appears to be a free-call fiesta (Photo: John Mokwetsi) |
Dialing… Call ended! Hello can you call back? The line is
not clear!
Since 2010, subscribers to the mobile telephony company QCell have to make do with boring and time consuming attempts to make calls at
night on Saturdays and Sundays, whether for free or not.
To provide better quality of service in 2013, QCell will
suspend the free weekend call service until further notice, the company
announces in several texts messages sent to clients on Dec. 31, 2012, while
wishing them a happy new year.
That was a perfect new year present, says Pa Modou Njie. I really welcome the
idea. If we as subscribers are given free calls and can’t make the best of it,
it is wise to not only suspend it but stop it all together.
It has always been very difficult to make calls at night
during weekend, what is more annoying is that even if you are not on free call
and have your account recharged you will still be compelled to bear the pain of
not being able to make calls, the Latrikunda German resident said.
“It’s better for
them to concentrate on improving and upgrading their services so as to be
providing better services which they said is the reason for this impromptu
decision,” Lamin Jahateh said.
“With the free
call, to make a call becomes a nightmare. So it’s better to stop it and improve
their services so that people can make calls swiftly,” added Jahateh, a native
of Essau and publisher of a leading blog, Gambia News Online.
Mr. Jahateh, who
has made QCell his favourite, even realised that when he is on free call during
the weekend often text messages he sent are not delivered though on your phone it
will indicates “message sent” and you will only know your message is not
delivered through the “delivery report notification” that is, if you have
activated it.
I think it is good
that the free weekend calls are suspended, said Nfamara Camara, who is
reading development studies at the University
of The Gambia. It
increases demand and hinder most of the weekend calls at night even if you have
credit in your SIM (subscriber identity module card).
I hope the
suspension will also increase efficiency by reducing the usually high demand on
the network during weekend. The poor service delivery is as a result of the
weekend free call, the New Jewhwang resident said.
A credit seller in Serekunda also told this blog that there are times she loses because the poor network does not allow her to send credit to clients.
However, an independent observer sees things differently. I am not even surprise that they stopped the free call, it was just a market penetration strategy, he said. All other mobile phone companies have done the same, just differently.
However, an independent observer sees things differently. I am not even surprise that they stopped the free call, it was just a market penetration strategy, he said. All other mobile phone companies have done the same, just differently.
“At first, when
they were newly coming into the market, QCell subscribers can make calls in the
weekend and on a daily basis from 9pm to 7am, all for free,” he told The North Bank Evening Standard. “After some months they said you have to buy D25 credit in
order to qualify for the free weekend call. After some months they increased it
to D50 credit.”
“Early 2012, they
increased it to D75 to qualify for the free call and of recent they increased
to D100,” added the observer who patronizes all four GSM companies in The
Gambia. “So if you follow
the trend of the free call you can even make conclusion from the beginning that
this is just a marketing gimmick but it’s not going to last. So I am not surprised in any way that this
free call is suspended.”
Established in 2009, QCell prides itself for being the
country’s first third generation (3G) mobile telephony company.
The Company, the newest of four global systems for mobile
communication (GSM) services providers in The Gambia was hailed as “the cheapest” by President Yahya Jammeh in 2010.
On March 1, 2012, the company claimed it had launched the
country’s first 4G network. “BREAKING NEWS! QCell launches The Gambia’s FIRST
4G network. QCell, leaders in Innovation and Quality,” it said in a series of
text messages amid growing competition.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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