Etisalat UAE has announced offers and initiatives for its customers to reconnect with their loved ones during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan (2 April through 2 May, 2022). The company is offering its postpaid and prepaid subscribers special Ramadan data packs, one month free streaming access to Ramadan shows, discounts on a wide range of devices and a 50 percent discount on premium movies with eLife.
The Ramadan pack for postpaid subscribers costs AED 100.00 (US $27.22) and provides customers 50 GB of data and free VIP access to the Arabic online streaming platform Shahid. At AED 60.00 (US $16.33), prepaid customers will receive a 30 GB data allowance (1 GB per day for 30 days) and free access to Switch TV’s on-demand Arabia pack. The Ramadan pack is a one-time subscription, available from 2 April and valid for 30 days.
In addition, devices such as smartphones, accessories, smart TVs, wearables, gaming devices, laptops and tablets are available at discounts of up to 80 percent. These offers will be available until 8 May across retail stores, online and on the My Etisalat app.
Tarifica’s Take
While some might say that religion and mobile telecom have nothing in common, we think that is a limited view. Since religion revolves around community, and communication is part and parcel of a vital community, in today’s world mobile service is important when it comes to celebrations and personal connections during religious holidays. And since Ramadan is a month-long sacred period, an MNO has a wide open field in which to design special offers that serve the needs of Muslim communities, especially in majority-Muslim nations such as the UAE.
Etisalat’s Ramadan packages are one-month, one-time deals that include generous portions of data—more for the postpaid than the prepaid, with concomitantly higher pricing for the postpaid, in line with the tendency of postpaid users to be more financially secure and less sensitive to the risks of paying for more data than one uses. The prepaid offer parcels out the 30 MB of data at 1 MB per day so that users do not run through it before the period is over.
In addition to the cellular service aspects of the packages, value-added content is also being offered, and the fact that the shows and music are relevant to Ramadan makes it appropriate and appealing.
The device discounts point toward the way in which these Ramadan offers can resonate long after the end of Ramadan. The generous savings will very likely motivate subscribers of the packages to purchase devices, which they will then use going forward. The point here is that the pleasant experience of using the Ramadan packages is expected to have the effect of turning new users into longer-term subscribers, and possibly turning current subscribers into heavier users of data.