Cellphone users subscribed to MTN have taken to social media to express their frustration about how a free, daily, give-away airtime scheme from MTN has created a phone call frenzy.
Cellphone users subscribed to MTN have taken to social media to express their frustration about how a free, daily, give-away airtime scheme from MTN has created a phone call frenzy.
The R60 FREE MTN WOW bonus, as it is officially known, is given to MTN customers daily every time they use R6 on their calls. The free airtime expires each day, at midnight. Customers can only use that amount to contact other MTN customers via calls, sms's and internet connectivity.
But MTN users have turned to Facebook and Twitter to complain about how the scheme has led to a proliferation of "nuisance callers".
On 27 June, facebook user Blaque Rose Lamma Tekker (whose real name is Lulama Teka) posted “MTN uyenzile iindaba ngale R60…kuvuka nohlala kwabafileyo.khanisiyekeni tog!" (MTN has made headlines with this R60……many (people) have now risen from the dead. Please leave us alone!)
In an interview with Grocott’s Mail on Wednesday, Teka maintained that the airtime was inconveniencing others. "We get calls during odd hours at night from people that are not even close to us because people are under pressure to use up the airtime before it expires at midnight".
Teka commended MTN, however, conceding that the airtime is useful to people from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially to those in remote rural areas where shops selling prepaid airtime are scarce.
Another Facebook user, Busisiwe Jemsana, posted on the 28 June, “Isisono ke lento yocaba qho ndilala ne etym yeR30 ezawtyiwa nguMTN kuba ndingazazi ukuba ndizakufownela bani ngayo.” (It's such a pity that I'm always forced to forfeit at least R30 of the free airtime because I fail to use up the whole amount because there are not many people I can call with all that free airtime.)
Nwabisa Mbali posted on his wall on 26 June, “Iphela nini na lento ye R60 free airtime uzbona ufounelwa zizdala njee akazaz athini Mxim.” (When does this thing of R60 free airtime end, because we now get calls from ex-partners who have nothing much to say.)
Popular local MTN Agent, Zongezile Sandi, selling prepaid airtime on the streets praised the MTN initiative. "This scheme is one of the benefits reaped by our customers. This is free airtime that you can use for those long distance calls and to organise events," he said.
