ETL launches its unlimited data plan

Beeline, Laotel and Unitel already have their own unlimited data plan. ETL was the last one to join up the race and launch it this week. With a major difference though.

The Lao National Authority of Post and Telecommunication (NAPT) regulated the minimum rate per MB on mobile phones. This is the reason why as of today, no unlimited plan has been launched on such devices but only on datacards or tablets (that are not subject to regulation).
To make sure the SIM is only used in that kind of devices, subscribing to unlimited data plans usually disable the call capability.

Probably thanks to its state-own position, ETL is ignoring these regulation concerns and launch its unlimited data plan on mobile. Calling is not disabled here. Even better, they are cheaper !
Can we really speak of fair competition in Laos? Really doubt it. The funny thing is that 2 weeks earlier, Laos entered WTO...

This is the plan details:

ETL 2Teen plan:
SIM Price: 20,000 LAK
Daily rate: 5,000 LAK/day
Call rate: 300 LAK/mn

Internet price comparison (Update Nov 2012)

	Beeline	Unitel	Planet	LTC	ETL
256 Kbps	LAK 350,000		LAK 150,000	LAK 150,000	LAK 150,000
512 Kbps	LAK 500,000	LAK 220,000	LAK 350,000	LAK 260,000	LAK 220,000
1 Mbps	LAK 1,000,000	LAK 350,000	LAK 1,000,000	LAK 400,000	LAK 350,000
1,5 Mbps	LAK 2,000,000	LAK 550,000
2 Mbps	LAK 2,300,000	LAK 680,000	LAK 2,500,000	LAK 800,000
3 Mbps	LAK 4,000,000
4 Mbps		LAK 1,700,000

Technology:
ADSL for Unitel, LTC and ETL
Wimax for Beeline and Planet

LTC to launch the first 4G commercial service in Laos

On Nov 5 and 6, the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit took place in Vientiane, LAO PDR.

This was the opportunity taken by LTC to announce the launch of its 4G mobile network. The Chinese vendor Huawei was chosen for this project and installed 20 LTE mobile sites in Vientiane for the summit.
LTC plans to open the service to the public within this month being the first 4G commercial service in Laos. The service will be data-only as a first step (datacards) but voice services and nationwide expansion are planned later on.

Source: LTC set to launch Laos’s first 4G network next month

More information about LTE

ETL strikes again

ETL new promotion is already a hit. The offer is fairly simple: 

Pay 1,650,000 LAK in one time and get 1 smartphone FREE + 1,650,000 LAK bonus over two years.

The bonus is broken down by step of 60,000 LAK/month over the 20 first months if the sub refills 60,000 LAK/month. The rest of the bonus is given over the last 4 years. 

The trick here is to advertise that the smartphone is free and the bonus only to payback the initial deposit. This allows the Lao mobile operator to comply with the price regulation as offering huge bonus to its high ARPU subs (60,000 LAK minimum refill per month). 

After the Gmail to SMS feature, ETL proves that it is possible to innovate, be creative and offer promotions to its subscribers in spite of the price regulation. 

A new player in this fool’s game where Beeline used to be the king... As for the Russian company, it is still M.I.A...

Beeline launched new Wimax promotions

Source: Beeline

ETL, the first mobile operator...

Yes, it happened. Once in a while, ETL guys decide to wake up and do something crazy. And where do we less expect ETL than the technological race? ETL completely blows away LTC and Beeline by being the first operator in Laos to partner with Google and his amazing chat to SMS service. These guys are so modest that it is not advertised anywhere. 

How does it work? 

Well pretty easily. From the embedded chat in your Gmail page, you can now send SMS to any ETL number for free. The quota is 50 SMS and you get a new 50 SMS pack when someone replies to you from his phone to your chatbox. If your quota goes down to zero, you just have to wait 24 hours to get some credits again. 

For now, only ETL numbers are supported. Lets hope the competitors will wake up and follow the new high-tech leader in Laos: ETL !

The list of all supported operators can be found here.

Beeline LTE 4G in action

Look what I found on Youtube !