We subscribe for the Internet differently depending on our financial capabilities and usage patterns. Telecoms know this and they have put different volumes and validity periods of bundles to have everyone covered in the best possible way they can. Bundle validity periods start from one hour and go as far as a year. While some bundles might look cloned out of the books of other telecoms, some completely differ in volume and validity periods. So that is what I want to break down in this article.
If you wish to use the Internet for a certain validity period, what Internet service provider has the best bundle in that validity period? Who is really the king of the bundles? MTN? Airtel? Africell? Well, I will leave that for you to judge.
Round One: 1 hour bundles
- MTN: 60Mb Tooti bundle at UGX 500.
- Airtel: 50MB Data Tooti bundle at UGX 500. 1GB Happy Hour at UGX 5,000.
- Africell: 1GB Happy Hour at UGX 5,000.
Verdict
MTN Uganda does much to keep the cost per hour low while offering more with its Tooti offering, 10MB more than Airtel’s Data Tooti bundle. Africell’s bundle is similar to Airtel’s Happy Hour bundle. So who is the king of the hour bundles? Airtel takes the throne of the hour because it manages to have two different offerings, the affordable Data Tooti and the Happy hour bundle.
Round 2: Daily bundles.
- MTN: 15MB at UGX 250, 40MB at UGX 500, 100MB at UGX 1,000, 300MB at UGX 2,000 and 1GB at UGX 5,000.
- Airtel: 10MB at UGX 250, 40MB at UGX 500, 100MB at UGX 1,000, 300MB at UGX 2,000, 400MB (Valid for 3 days) at UGX 3,000 and 1GB (Valid for 3 days) at UGX 5,000.
- Africell: 20MB at UGX 250, 50MB at UGX 500, 120MB at UGX 1,000, 320MB at UGX 2,000, 600MB at UGX 3,200, 900MB at UGX 4,500, 1.2GB at UGX 5,000, 1.5GB at UGX 6,500, 2GB at UGX 8,700 and 3GB at UGX 12,000.
Verdict
While Airtel is pushing some of its daily bundles to last 3 days, the obvious winner is Africell. Africell has a sea of bundles it offers with the 24 hour validity, offers as big as the jaw dropping 3GB of Internet access. MTN is trying to keep as close as possible. However, even it’s Pulse bundles are no match to Africell’s gigantic offerings. Africell is the king of the daily bundles.
Round 3: Weekly bundles
- MTN: 500MB at UGX 5,000, 1.5GB at UGX 10,000 and 5GB at UGX 20,000.
- Airtel: 100MB at 2,000, 350MB at UGX 5,000, 1GB at UGX 7,000, 3GB at UGX 15,000 and 5GB at UGX 20,000.
- Africell: 50MB at UGX 1,750, 80MB at 2,500, 200MB at UGX 5,500 and 800MB at UGX 21,900.
Verdict
If you need more than 500MB of data every week, don’t opt for Africell. I repeat, don’t opt for Africell. It doesn’t have large bundles in this region and its bundles here are so expensive. MTN continues to bring a small variety of options but it can’t get the better of Airtel which offers a wide range of bundles at very affordable rates. Airtel bosses as the king of the weekly bundles.
Round 4: 1 month bundles
MTN: 25MB at UGX 1,500, 300MB at UGX 5,500, 600MB at UGX 10,000, 2GB at UGX 20,000, 10GB at UGX 50,000 and 30GB at UGX 100,000.
Airtel: 25MB at 1,500, 300MB at 5,000, 1GB at UGX 10,000, 5GB at UGX 30,000, 12GB at UGX 50,000, 20GB at UGX 75,000, 25GB at UGX 90,000, 51GB at UGX 150,000 and 100GB at UGX 550,000.
Africell: 25MB at UGX 1,450, 100MB at UGX 4,400, 125MB at UGX 4,900, 250MB at 9,750, 350MB at UGX 13,500, 500MB at UGX 19,500, 1GB at UGX 34,500, 1.5GB at 44,500, 2GB at UGX 49,850, 3GB at UGX 59,500, 3.5GB at UGX 75,000, 5GB at UGX 89,000, 7GB at UGX 104,000, 10GB at UGX 124.850, 15GB at UGX 199,000, 20GB at 210,000, 30GB at UGX 284,000, 40GB at UGX 315,000, 50GB 330,000, 80GB at UGX 430,000 and 100GB 480,000.
Verdict.
Africell may have the biggest number of bundle offerings in the one month validity period, but they are the most expensive monthly bundles when compared to other telecoms. Very expensive in this case means whereas UGX 75,000 can get you 20GB with Airtel, you only get 3.5GB with Africell at the same price. Is this Africell data ‘holy data’? The only time you should try Africell is when buying 100GB because it’s 100GB monthly bundle is cheaper. MTN has some really impressive monthly bundles but they all look dwarfed when compared to the titanic offerings from Airtel. By way of knockout, Airtel is the king of the monthly bundles.
Round 5: 3 months bundles
MTN: 2GB at UGX 30,000, 10GB at UGX 75,000 and 30GB at UGX 150,000.
Airtel: 4GB at UGX 39,000, 10GB at UGX 78,000, 20GB at UGX 130,000 and 85GB at UGX 450,000.
Africell: 1GB at 45,000, 1.5GB at UGX 50,000, 2GB at UGX 64,900, 3GB at UGX 77,500, 5GB at UGX 116,500, 6.5GB at UGX 129,000, 10GB at UGX 160,000, 20GB at UGX 300,000, 30GB at 370,000 and 45GB at UGX 600,000.
Verdict.
For yet another time, Africell brings a multitude of obnoxiously expensive bundles compared to the other telecoms and we are disappointed. Airtel has tempting offers but MTN wins easily with only it’s 3 bundle offerings. MTN offers the cheapest 3 months bundles of all the above telecoms. Let’s do some maths, a little maths. MTN offers 30GB at UGX 150,000. Multiply that by 3. That’s 90GB at UGX 450,000, 5GB more than Airtel’s offer. MTN takes home the trophy of king of the 3 months bundles.
Round 6. 1 year bundles
MTN: N/A
Airtel: 300GB atugx 1,500,000.
Africell: 100GB at UGX 900,000.
Verdict
MTN has no internet bundles in this region. So the fight is left for only Airtel and Africell. Africell’s bundle is the cheapest you can get here, but it is also smaller in volume. You may need more than 100GB in a year and hence going for Airtel’s 300GB bundle may be the logical option. Airtel then become the king of the annual bundles.
Conclusion
Africell may have won the daily bundle throne, but things fall apart as validity periods increase. MTN does much to deliver affordable bundles and keep up with Airtel which sometimes offers insanely large bundles at a smaller price. So who is the King Of data Bundles in Uganda? I leave that for you to judge.