Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s leading cellular operator, Azercell, will switch to the manat-based billing system from May 1, offering new fees to its multi-million clientele.

From now on, payments of pre-paid (SimSim) subscribers will be calculated in Azerbaijan’s currency, instead of talk units, a billing system used for 13 years, Azercell Telecom LLC’s CEO, Ali Agan, told a presentation on Friday.

"The use of that system was once the demand of the time, but after technical work carried out for about two years, SimSim subscribers will be billed under the manat-based system from May 1," Agan said.

He noted that with the new billing system in place, fees will not increase, but on the contrary will go down.

Agan said the discounts will apply to both SimSim and post-paid users. The discount will be 35 percent for calls made over the network and up to 60 percent for outside calls.

"The company is confident that the new system will help users to manage phone calls and control ongoing balance," he said.

As of May 1 Azercell’s postpaid and prepaid subscribers will be able to opt for either Bizimkiler or Her Yere new tariff packages. Postpaid users will not pay a monthly fee for these two tariffs.

The youth-oriented and renewed GencSim fee is available for SimSim subscribers. Given the dominance of business people among postpaid subscribers, Azercell offers them a new Biznes200 tariff: 200 minutes of call time over the network and 200 text messages. The DovletCell and MediaCell packages have also become more attractive, the company said.

For prepaid users, the Bizimkiler package is considered the best option.

The Her Yere package offers a flat rate for all local calls, while GencSim allows users to talk free of charge after using three minutes of call time. Moreover, a 50 percent discount applies to calls made from midnight to 8 a.m. and on weekends.

All new Azercell users will receive free call time worth 5 manats ($6.3) and 5 MB of internet traffic every month over two years.