Times Of Swaziland: ‘ESWATINI MOBILE, MTN PLAYING FIELD LEVELLED’ ‘ESWATINI MOBILE, MTN PLAYING FIELD LEVELLED’ ================================================================================ BY KWANELE DHLADHLA on 23/05/2019 08:28:00 MBABANE – The decision by government to enlist Eswatini Mobile as an official provider of mobile telecommunications contract services to government officials has levelled the telecommunications playing field Bongani Mdluli, the Chairman of the Swaziland Consumer Association (SCA), said Eswatini Mobile, like every other company, paid tax and provided employment to emaSwati hence they should be treated equally with those it competed with in the industry leveling. “We want the ground to be level for everyone to compete and see what they have to offer to their clientele. What government has done is what we call leveling the ground. This means government is taking care of all industry players,” Mdluli said. He said this was an opportunity for Eswatini Mobile to prove its competitive edge quality by providing quality service and improve where there was need as well as showing that government’s decision was not based on anything else but merit. “This will bring improvement in competition as Eswatini Mobile will want to do well,” Mdluli said. Meanwhile, Eswatini Mobile Chief Executive Officer Jeff Penberton said they were looking forward to working with government in this respect. “We will make the most of the brilliant business opportunity that has been presented by the good news,” the CEO said briefly. concomitant In announcing the decision, Government Press Secretary Percy Simelane, through a statement, said following the establishment of the Competition Commission and the concomitant regulation on Competition, government adhered to the dictates of the completion by reviewing cellular phone service provision to government through Establishment Circular Number 2 of 2018. “The circular opened up for the then new Service Provider, Eswatini-Mobile, which Government decided to officially include in the provision of contract service to government officials. All along government was dealing with MTN but this time both Service Providers have been taken on board,” Simelane said. This past week, the Times SUNDAY reported that Eswatini Mobile was proving its competitive edge in the provision of unlimited data services by going head-to-head with global telecommunications. unlimited The publication said the company offered an unlimited data package that competed with world giants such as T-Mobile, Spirit, Verizon and AT&T. Penberton was quoted saying while Eswatini Mobile throttles its bandwidth after a customer had used up 40GB, Spirit throttled after the use of 23G, AT&T and Verizon throttled at 22GB while T-Mobile used to throttle at 28GB. There are reports though that T-Mobile, in 2017, announced that it was increasing its soft cap for unlimited data plans from 32GB to 50GB, a move that continues to put it far ahead of competitors such as Verizon and AT&T’s 22GB caps as well as Sprint’s 23GB.