8ta introdues per-second billing

8ta has announced that all new pre-paid customers will be billed on a per-second structure, while still taking advantage of the service provider’s pre-paid benefits.

The new billing option enables customers to pay pro-rata at a per second rate for the duration of the call - making per-second billing a cheaper option for subscribers who make shorter duration calls on a regular basis.

8ta’s per-second billed pre-paid option offers rates of R1.12 per minute for off peak calls and R2.75 per minute for peak time calls – regardless of the network called. The per-second billing rate is applicable from the first second of the call and will be effective from 15 May 2011.

At 65 cents per minute for calls to a fixed line number, and billed per second, the new tariff plan also introduces competitive rates for customers using this all day tariff.

Amith Maharaj, managing executive for 8ta says that the per-second pre-paid tariff would enable customers to choose a billing option that best suits them.

“Simplicity while retaining value remains a strategic imperative for 8ta, as we are still the only operator to reward customers with free daily SMS’s as well as free minutes just for receiving calls,” he said.

Pre-paid bonus offerings, will still be available and customers will still earn free outgoing minutes when receiving incoming calls from any local mobile network.

While this option will become the standard rate for customers that have acquired 8ta SIM cards, and have completed the RICA registration process, customers may opt for the flat rate of R1.50 per-minute billing structure instead. Pre-paid customers currently on per-minute billing can also opt to change to per-second billing as well.