Cote d’Ivoire telecom regulator Artci has announced that mobile phone customers will now be able to receive a free automatic text message specifying call length, price and remaining credit after each call they make. The service applies to all four operators. Comium, Moov and MTN have set up short code numbers to activate and deactivate the service, while Orange Cote d’Ivoire customers are asked to text “Oui” or “Stop” to the number 7879.

Tarifica’s Take

In a developing, budget-minded market, this type of customer-friendly cost-controlling initiative is bound to be welcome. Keeping track of usage is important to both prepaid and postpaid customers, and the regulator has shown itself to have their best interest in mind in ordering all four operators to provide the free SMS notifications. If one of the MNOs, on the other hand, had come up with this on their own, they might have achieved a slight competitive edge over the others, with regard to customer relations.