SMS more expensive as from today, 15th January 2012
When you heard it in the budget, you most probably said “How unfair!”. A government levy of 10cents on the price of SMS (Short Message Service)! Youngsters will the the ones who will be mostly affected.
Officially, the price of a SMS goes from 0.60 cents to 0.70 cents but it seems that different mobile operators are applying different pricing plans. The new prices are as follows (Prices will be updated asap) :
Orange :
Prepaid – From 0.60cents to 0.79 cents 0.69cents
Postpaid – From 0.50cents to 0.675cents (???)
Note : Orange has now introduced 15% VAT charges on the price (before tax).
Update : It seems that Orange has published a misleading communique as explained below in the comments. 15% VAT is already charged when you buy credit for your account.
Emtel :
Prepaid – From 0.60cents to 0.69cents
Postpaid – From 0.50cents to 0.675cents *to confirm*
MTML :
Freedom plan : From Free to 0.10cents *to confirm*
Chili (Prepaid) : From 0.50cents to ???
And now what?
In the past months, we have seen a considerable decrease in the price of mobile phone calls. It was very much appreciated but no one saw this government tax coming.
Everyone needs to communicate nowadays. We just need to perhaps change the way we do it.
Alternatives of sending sms could be the use of social networking sites to send messages or even email! Twitter might do a very good job here. While paying only your internet mobile communication, you can send and received messages(known tweets) to and from your senders (known as tweeps). It can be worth to give it a try. I think that I can cover this small topic in a new blog post soon.
A quick flashback to years back when SMS was free. Do you still remember? 
You are free to leave your comments on this topic.
If you have any confirmation on the price above, please leave a comment below. Thanks!
