Followers of the Big Brother Africa (BBA) The Chase have expressed concern over the costs of a Short Message Service (SMS) to vote for a housemate in the show saying it is too high to encourage them to vote through SMSs.
Both TNM and Airtel are charging K48 per text for a vote.
“I believe if the cost for an SMS to BBA were less than K20 many people would be voting. We are struggling a lot and it is not easy to give away K48 for just an SMS to BBA.
“Since the economy started to face hiccups, the maximum amount of airtime I can add to my phone is K100,”said Jonas Jailosi of Chirimba Township.
Another fan Mary Nseula said she has been willing to vote through SMS, but is let down by the cost.
“I am a keen follower of the show, but when I want to vote for a housemate, I ask my friends who have phones that support Internet to vote through that means. It is very cheap. It is my plea to both TNM and Airtel to consider revisiting the charges for a text,” said Nseula.
While acknowledging that people have different sources of money and expenditure levels which can contribute to such concerns, Spokesperson for Airtel Malawi Edith Tsilizani said the SMS charge in Malawi is the lowest in the region.
“I cannot trash the concern, but what I can say is that we are providing the lowest cost for an SMS to BBA in the region.
“I have checked the costs for SMS to BBA in other countries and it is showing that we are better off. Even the number of texts we are receiving for the show, indicates that many people are voting through text,” she said.
She added that they are expecting to see more texts in the weeks to come when the show reaches the climax.
SMS costs posted on the official BBA website show that SMS costs in Malawi are relatively cheaper than South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
