Nigerian operator Globacom has announced the rollout of YouTube-specific data plans for its subscribers. The time-based plans will allow customers to stream their favorite YouTube videos for as little as NGN 50.00 (US $0.13) per hour. Four packs are available:—NGN 50.00 for one hour, NGN 130.00 (US $0.34) for three hours, NGN 50.00 for five hours (at night) and NGN 200.00 (US $0.52) for seven hours (at night). A fair-usage policy on each of the plans with fixed volume will be applied, according to the operator.

Tarifica’s Take

We have seen many offerings lately from mobile operators that feature zero-rated data for specific applications, especially OTT messaging apps and other popular internet-based services such as Facebook. Globacom’s offering is interesting for being targeted to YouTube and also for thinly slicing the allowances.

Rather than zero-rating the data, Globacom is charging for it, but at rates that are very congenial to budget-conscious users and that permit the users to pay only for what they are going to use and when they expect they are going to use it. Rates per hour go down as more hours are selected, and for those who want to limit their usage to the nighttime hours, the rates are particularly advantageous.

We presume that in designing this time-based offering, Globacom was responding to research showing that YouTube accounts for a significant portion of mobile data usage for many of its customers. If it has judged its market correctly, subscribers will be able to satisfy their viewing and listening needs and budgets with one of the four packs and thereby drive revenue to the operator.