Hello.
At the end of last year, operators began to refuse unlimited Internet, with each operator claiming that this was a necessity. And if unlimiteds remained, then only in the most expensive tariffs or in old tariff plans, where they were gradually turned off. In the current conditions, all operators are gradually raising prices, trying to move away from offering unlimited, and this is the right approach. It looks all the more surprising, like a jack-in-the-box, that the “MTS Access” tariff has appeared.
Tariff description in pdf you can find right here.
Before us is a classic no-limit, however, built in an amazing way. The basic package of services includes 40 GB of mobile internet, as well as 1000 minutes and 250 SMS. When you run out of internet, you will be automatically connected to the next 50 GB package, it is free. Only the first 40 GB package is available for distribution, but all the usual restrictions on traffic from MTS apply – you cannot use torrents above the 5 GB limit, and so on. That is, it is assumed that you will use the mobile Internet only on the device, but this is still an extremely generous offer. Moreover, there can be up to 15 packages, that is, in total, you are offered 790 GB of traffic per month. Remaining services for the new month are not transferred, but this is not necessary here.
There is a clause in the rules about “misuse of the subscription” and it is immediately indicated that these are outgoing calls for more than 10,000 minutes per month, as well as the distribution of Internet traffic for commercial purposes. Of course, it is a separate question who and how will be defined as a commercial user, but for the operator this is a straw in case someone decides to consume more traffic than he expects.
In Moscow, the cost of the tariff is 890 rubles, and taking into account the full unlimited in everything, the offer looks extremely generous. It must be remembered that, as such, unlimiteds have disappeared, for example, with Tele2 you can connect the Black tariff, for 800 rubles you will receive 60 GB of traffic.
At MegaFon, the Maximum tariff looks similar in cost, for 850 rubles you get 50 GB of traffic. In Beeline, everything is about the same for Moscow, that is, all operators before the release of MTS Access had similar offers.
And suddenly MTS decided to break the market, unleash a price war. For MTS, this is a familiar concept, since in recent years it was this operator that has always started price wars and tried to break the market for itself. Let me remind you that at the end of last year, MTS launched “Smart for its own. New Year”, the offer attracted a fairly large number of subscribers. Other operators launched their counter-offers, in fact the entire market donated money to compete for customers.
Now the situation looks even more curious, formally all operators have abandoned unlimiteds and have begun to tighten them even in non-public offers, remove them in archival tariffs. The MTS demarche breaks the game for everyone, as it means the resumption of price wars. Not responding to this offer means giving away part of the MTS audience. Answering directly will mean losing money, which is so needed at the moment for development. It is definitely not worth considering MTS as a kind of Robin Hood that cares about the welfare of people, the company is fighting for its share. If all operators come up with similar offers, this will inevitably increase prices for all other tariffs, causing prices to rise for all subscribers. The holiday of life at one specific tariff for each operator will be paid by everyone without exception. And this is bad for the market, especially at a time when there is not enough money for development and you have to raise prices for services. Moreover, this creates an expectation of unlimiteds and their return, that is, we are all on the same path to nowhere.
Outside of mass, public offers, operators tried to flirt with unlimiteds, offered such options to subscribers, but, unlike the MTS approach, they were not widespread.
From the curious in the description of the tariff – the absence of the word “tariff”, now everything is called “subscription”. Which indicates an attempt by MTS to create an ecosystem, soon the operator will announce the complete absence of tariffs, all services will become subscriptions, and they will be combined with various offers, for example, the KION cinema and other content options. As for me, this is a rather controversial point, already now many perceive “MTS Access” as a subscription in addition to the tariff plan from MTS. But this is exactly the tariff, which was called differently.
I tried to clarify some parameters of the subscription tariff in the MTS support service, but the conversation did not work out. The girl communicated with me as with another imbecile who distracts her from important matters, did not even try to listen to the question to the end. The script from MTS states that the tariff is completely unlimited, attempts to find out about the packages turned into a sigh: “Unlimited Internet”. After that, the girl decided not to waste time on me and transferred me to another specialist, a small revenge was that she connected me with MTS Bank. From where I was already transferred back to a support specialist. And unlike the first girl, Ekaterina very calmly and correctly described all the moments associated with this tariff.
Distribution of the Internet is possible within the first 40 GB, it is free. Then, in order to use the distribution of the Internet, you need to activate the option for 80 rubles per day, but within these days the amount of traffic can be any (there are tariff restrictions, and only – I suspect that this will be a 50 GB limit, but there is no exact information about this ).
The support service is entirely dependent on the training of people, and formally the first girl did not violate the script, in fact she sighed and demonstrated in every possible way that the client in my person was mentally retarded. An invaluable experience for which I would like to thank MTS from the bottom of my heart, I have not encountered this for a long time (I called MTS not from my number, so that I would be treated like everyone else, I received it in full). But I can say that the support service received very little information about the tariff, the feeling that it was created in a hurry as a response to something. But the answer to which is unclear, since there were no offers from competitors at the moment. What did they learn at MTS that prompted them to run so fast with this tariff? And not afraid to start a price war?
An important point to consider is that the “MTS Access” subscription is not positioned as a time-limited, as a promotional offer. Tariff can be quickly killed by removing free packages, then it will turn into a pumpkin, and people’s disappointment will be huge. And you can not do this, then how the market situation will develop. Definitely in MTS they laid straws for themselves for any development of the situation.
From the point of view of the market and other operators (I have discussed this tariff with all without exception), there is a complete misunderstanding why MTS is doing this, why it is taking a position that is contrary to market conditions. The only explanation that comes to mind is that the internal plans of the MTS are not being fulfilled, hence the need for dumping at any cost. The only question is whether other operators will respond to this tariff or take a wait-and-see position. With the second approach, there is a possibility that cannibalization within MTS will be high, and it will not be possible to attract new subscribers in significant quantities. A price war is possible, it will lead to higher prices for everyone, and will also automatically mean worse communication.
In conditions when operators do not have enough capacity for unlimited Internet, the MTS demarche also means that in all regions where the share of connections to MTS Access of heavy subscribers will be significant, the quality of mobile Internet will be killed for all subscribers. And to take such a step, without having a significant margin of safety, unloaded network, is possible only in case of problems with the number of subscribers and their connections. I think that only this can explain the hasty appearance of the tariff. The decision, whatever one may say, is controversial, especially at a time when networks are literally burning in the heat, and new equipment is rather limited in supplies. I see the appearance of this tariff as a very emotional step, and, most likely, specific performers simply save themselves, not thinking about the impact on the future of the operator. The main thing is to solve the problem here and now.
P.S. About the misuse of the tariff (in the support service they are not used to the word “subscription” yet and call it “MTS Access” the tariff), they did not answer me, they only read the description from the pdf file, which I already know. But they sincerely tried to help, made a request and promised to return within a day with an answer.