Alfa CEO and Chairman Marwan Hayek held a press conference this afternoon at the new company headquarters to announce the launch of two new postpaid bundles offering discounts of up to 53%, in addition to a drop in Internet bundle rates, in cooperation with the Ministry of Telecommunications and in line with the Minister’s gradual rate decrease strategy.
First, Hayek welcomed the media at Alfa’s new headquarters in Parallel Towers and thanked them for their constant follow-up of the company.
He said, “We have become in recent years a source of joy for people, and the telecom sector is the only sector that always announces happy news”. He then added, “We are working day and night to meet everyone’s expectations and needs, especially our 2.5 million Alfa subscribers”.
Hayek then went on to say, “We care about the happiness of people and our subscribers because studies confirm that our work in the ICT field affects stress and heart rate levels. These studies suggest that when people encounter streaming delays such as re-buffering while trying to watch a video, stress levels rise from 19% to 34%, and in case of delay in downloading mobile content, heart rate increases by 38%. This means that our network has a direct and indirect impact on human health. Therefore, we always attempt to avoid any negative impact on our subscribers and our network is ready to handle any rise in Internet consumption”.
He added, “We are launching today two new postpaid bundles, the first being Start-Up for $45, which cuts by 47% the current postpaid rates and includes 550 local minutes, 100 SMS, and 1.5GB of data. The second bundle is the VIP bundle for $185, which cuts by 53% the current postpaid rates, and is addressed to subscribers with consumption exceeding 1000 minutes per month. This bundle includes 2200 local minutes, 120 international minutes, and unlimited SMS. This bundle is also the only one on the market offering 15GB of data.
It should be noted that the monthly subscription and VAT are added to the new bundle prices.
Reduced data prices
Hayek said, “In keeping with the announcement by Minister of Telecommunications Boutros Harb this morning about a reduction in prices, especially mobile data rates, we are pleased to announce that we are ready to implement this measure as of Monday morning. Not only will these new prices compete with those in the Arab region, but they will also allow us to offer better rates”.
He pointed out that the price drops to be implemented vary between 10 and 20% depending on the bundle price, knowing that Alfa’s exchange with the Ministry of Telecommunications about the new rates is ongoing, as these rates are being determined under the ministry’s supervision and approval. Since the data bundle is used not only by Alfa subscribers, but also by about 4 million people, thus it is only logical and natural that the new tariff is applied to all subscribers in Lebanon. Therefore, to allow all the Lebanese to benefit from this move and in line with the ministry’s directives, we will begin applying the discounted rates on Monday morning.
After Hayek made a comparison between the new discounted Alfa rates and those applied in the Arab region, it was revealed that subscribers to the 1.5 GB data bundle will enjoy lower rates than the overall average prices in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, preceded only by Jordan and Oman. As for subscribers with average data consumption between 5GB and 10GB, they will enjoy the same rates as those applied in Jordan and Qatar. Subscribers with higher data consumption currently enjoy competitive rates that are less than those of the UAE and Qatar, contrary to the impression that our prices are higher than prices in these countries.
Hayek concluded by saying, “The new discounts in the data bundle rates will rank our rates lower than the average rates in the region. This is part of our strategy to keep pace with the needs of subscribers and provide the latest services in close cooperation with the Ministry of Telecommunications”.
ALFA ANNOUNCES NEW REDUCED PRICES
ON DATA BUNDLES STARTING SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
Alfa, managed by Orascom Telecom, has announced tariff discounts on all data bundles effective Monday morning. This price drop and its launch date was announced last week by Mr. Marwan Hayek – Alfa Chairman and CEO. Under the new tariff structure, data bundles are now priced 10 to 20% lower:
1.5 GB data Bundle: $17 instead of $19 per month
5 GB data Bundle: $23 instead of $29 per month
10GB data Bundle: $39 instead of $49 per month
20GB data Bundle: $59 instead of $69 per month
30GB data Bundle: $79 instead of $99 per month
40GB data Bundle: $99 instead of $119 per month
60GB data Bundle: $119 instead of $149 per month
Hayek explained that the move, in coordination with the Ministry of Telecommunications and under the guidance of His Excellency the Minister Boutros Harb, is welcome news for subscribers and is in line with Alfa’s strategy to address the distinct data needs of its subscribers, signified by the numbers with the penetration rate of smartphones reaching 86% on Alfa’s network. Hayek also went on to explain that this step is coming at a time when Alfa is rolling out 4G+ all across Lebanon, within the 2020 plan, allowing Alfa users to benefit from higher data capacities at lower prices.
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