Capitalism

I have been enjoying capitalism at its finest lately. I feel like I should give homage to good old free market economics during this one moment when I can fully and selfishly support it.

There are three cell phone companies in Rwanda (Rwandatel, Tigo and MTN). Rwandatel was the original and from what I can tell absolutely no one uses it anymore. MTN is widely known and considering it was a sponsor for the World Cup I think it spans much of the African continent. Tigo is the newest competitor.

As a classic consumer I've decided to support Tigo for their cheaper rates and the fact that their advertising is just so much better. If your commercials make me laugh and/or dance, I should reward you with some business. I'm only getting one TV channel as it is so the advertising better be phenomenal!

Since Tigo is trying to make a name for itself it charges much less for cell phone minutes, successfully creating the two cell phone phenomenon. Within the last month or two you can witness Rwandans carrying around two cell phones each. This seems silly and wasteful (hence why I've resisted so far). But it does make some sense. They want to save money with Tigo but they don't want to tell 50 million people what their new number is so they buy a new Tigo SIM card with a new number, and then they buy a new phone. Some people actually just have one phone with two SIM cards that they rotate, ensuring they are always missing a call at some point. Some believe that MTN will lower it's prices substantially to compete. They have already had some price wars by offering free bonus minutes during select time periods.

Thank you capitalism.

although it does beg the question, where are these people charging not just one cell phone but two with no electricity?