Vodafone Ghana said its double bonus offer was by far the most dynamic and compelling mobile number portability (MNP) welcome package in the country today. Head of Consumer Marketing at Vodafone Ghana, Tara Squire told journalists “our claim to have the best welcome package is based on strict comparison with what competition is offering.” He said Vodafone’s double bonus offer was for three months for all first time customers and the bonus credit was valid for seven days from the day of recharge, adding that no other telecom operator in the country was offering bonuses valid for seven days. Tara squire noted that some competitors claim to be offering three months double bonus, but checks had revealed that bonuses on those networks were only applicable on the first recharge in every month, but not applicable over the rest of the month. “We are bold to tell you this because we know Vodafone will not deceive the public that way - Vodafone’s double bonus is applicable to all recharges the customer does any day, any time within the three months and the bonus is valid for seven days from the day you recharge,” he said. He said some operators claim to give triple-value and yet give two to three days for the consumer to use accumulated bonuses over a one week period. Mr. Squire argued that those operators were very much aware that it was not realistic for a customer to use so much accumulated bonuses within two to three days and yet they place limited on when one could use the bonus because “they do not want you to use the bonus so it can return to them as profit.” Tara Squire also noted that Vodafone bonus credit could be used to make calls across networks, International calls to all destinations, text messaging and for browsing the internet, whereas for other telecom operators, the bonus credit is limited to on-network calls and for IDD calls to specific destinations abroad. He noted that on Vodafone, even when the three month goes over for a particular customer, there was yet another opportunity to enjoy Double Value by dialing 5050 to pay GHC1.99 every 30 days to enjoy double bonus on every GHC2 or more recharge plus 50 free SMS over the period. “The 50 free SMS comes to the GHC1.99 cedis we charge per month, so in reality we are giving you the same value as the double bonus and except you pay a token for the 50 SMS’s for the 30-day period,” he said. He said customers on double value always had seven days grace period at the end of the 30 days to reload their wallet and pay the monthly GHC1.99, but if the seven days elapses and the money is not paid, then the customer would be taken off the plan. Mr. Squire said there were other very juicy values accessible by dialing *151# on Vodafone to select which plan best suited a customer’s taste. He said the focus was to make the customer happy and not necessarily for Vodafone to make profit. Tara Squire said added to the voice calls values, Vodafone also offered the Streamer, Browser and Downloader internet bundles to suit different categories of customers. Head of Corporate Communications, Carmen Bruce Annan said Vodafone as committed to giving customers the best values and would therefore sustain its commitments to the winning value offerings it had on the market. “There are lots of offerings and combinations of offerings on the market but in the midst of the noise mobile subscribers really need to stop and consider which offering makes their cedis go far – I can tell you that Vodafone gives you that extra value for your cedi,” she said. Story by: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana