Emtel and Orange Post-Pay Schemes
Most Mauritians tend to opt for Emtel and Orange's respective pay-as-you go schemes, i.e. when their credit runs out, they top up their accounts with a Kwepe or Complis scratch card (or now use ATM refills or e-transfer). This payment scheme is undeniably more convenient than receiving a monthly bill, particularly when you want to monitor your spendings closely. However, it is worth taking note of the 'postpaid system' that has been introduced by both Emtel and Orange and which proves to be more economic than the 'prepaid/pay-as-you-go' scheme.
What is the post-pay scheme?
Basically, Emtel and Orange have packages that offer you a certain number of voice, text and data usage for a fixed monthly subscription. It usually entails signing a contract for 12 or 24 months. Both networks (Emtel and Orange) offer 3 packages to choose from, as given in the tables below.
Source: http://www.emtel-ltd.com
Source: http://www.orange.mu/mobile
For example, if you choose the Emtel 'Liberté' package at Rs.140/month, you are entitled to about 291 minutes of talk time or 280 text messages in that month. If you exceed this allowance, you will be charged at the normal rates (e.g. 60cents per text), if not cheaper depending on the packages and the network.
Advantages of the post-paid scheme:
- Calls and text messages are definitely cheaper. For example, sending an SMS costs 50cents instead of 60cents across all packages offered by the two networks. This means that if you subscribe to a Rs.125/monthly package, you will be able to send 250 SMS whereas if you top-up your account by Rs.125 or buy a scratch card of Rs.125, you will only be able to send 208 SMS. The reality is that by subscribing to a monthly package, you are able to send 42 more SMS than if you use the pre-paid system. The same observation can be made regarding calls. For example, the tariff for a normal Emtel-to-Emtel call is 2 cents per second, whereas the same call would be charged at 0.8 cent per second on the 'Liberté' package: this means that you can save Rs3.60 on a 5-minute conversation.
- No need to recharge your accounts every now and then.
- You can also subscribe to data plans to use applications such as WAP, internet, MMS, browsing and email (check the respective network's websites for tariffs).
Disadvantages of the post-pay scheme:
- If you do not use up your allowed talk time or text messages, you will still have to pay the full amount for which you signed up. For example, if you only used Rs.100 worth of calls but you had signed up for a Rs.125/month package, you will still have to pay the Rs.125 (+VAT) for that month. You cannot bring forward the remaining credit to the next month.
- The network may ask you for a guarantor and/or may require your national ID number to perform a credit check. This should not normally constitute any problem, although it means that it may take a few days before your subscription is approved.
So how do I know if the post-pay scheme is suitable for me?
Our advice is that if you use at least Rs.125 (+VAT) worth of credit on calls and text messages monthly, then the post-pay scheme is most likely to be a cost-cutting measure that you should adopt.
Data plans, on the other hand, are only worth considering if you want to make full use of some of your phone's data applications like WAP, internet, MMS, browsing and email.