Is MTN Zambia Trying to Rival WhatsApp with Voice Chat?

MTN Zambia announced a survey on their Facebook Page yesterday. The 4 question MTN Voice Chat survey is essentially digging for information as to how many people know about the service. It is short and straight to the point. Non-MTNers are also able to participate because the phone number field is not mandatory to complete. I guess it’s more important to fill it out for purposes of possibly winning MTN airtime and to also entice more MTNers to particpate. Nonetheless, it is a significant advantage to know how many MTN subscribers are aware of Voice Chat compared to non-subscribers.

The two explanations which currently make sense for driving this survey are either that; MTN is tying to revamp Voice Chat, or MTN is trying to phase it out. Revamping Voice Chat would be a very questionable move in this age of WhatsApp and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). On the other hand, Voice Chat subscription offers an alternative to purchasing a bundle in order to enjoy internet based messaging. Although, with an internet bundle one gets the advantage of also checking their email and, of course, Facebook. Phasing it out is understandable considering that it does not stand a chance against WhatsApp, BBM or Facebook Messenger. Snapchat anybody? We can only wait and see.

Charges for MTN Voice Chat can be found in the table below: