The launch also saw the beginning of stiff competition between the newcomer and Our Telekom.
bemobile’s service will initially cover 28 per cent of the country’s population.
Areas covered include Honiara, Guadalcanal, parts of Malaita and parts of Western Province.
Honiara woke up yesterday to the orange colour lining and parading the streets.
As early as 6am, hundreds of customers already were already queuing in front of the bemobile head office at Point Cruz to take advantage of the specials.
Men, women, young and old waited for hours before the office opened its door at 9am.
Along the streets, youths and supporters of bemobile dressed in orange T-shirts and caps and paraded on vehicles with police escort promoting the launch throughout the day.
A number of employees arrived late at work after they were caught up in the queue trying to be the first customers.
Because of the huge number of customers, only 15 customers were allowed in at a time inside the main show room.
Apart from the main head office, approved bemobile agents around the city were also selling handsets to customers.
The launch had fulfilled the much awaited services which enabled more customers to access mobile phone.
At bemobile, customers get a free sim card when they purchase a mobile phone.
Unlike Our Telekom in the past, a handset and sim card are bought separately costing more for local customers.
Most members of the public have welcomed bemobile’s new service which had provided much cheaper products and calls.
The new service also saw bemobile customers can speak for 49 seconds free of charge.
In terms of talk time, bemobile charges $1.10 to $1.60 per minute to calls made to another bemobile customer, Breeze customers and landline.
Our Telekom according to their rates is charging about $2.70 per minute.
The cheapest Alcatel handset with sim card is only $149 and the second cheapest was $299.
And within an hour, stocks for these two handsets run out in most of the outlets.
New stocks had to be ordered to meet the demand.
Our Telekom was also quick to respond to the special offers by slashing most of its handset products, double its top up credits for a week and dish our free t-shirts, caps, and bags.
A customer Roni Teri from Aruligo, north west Guadalcanal, said he loves the competition.
“To see prices drop is amazing. This is why competition is good for us,” he said.
Aruligo is one of the areas bemobile had built its tower.
Apart from Honiara, Auki also witnessed the launch of bemobile products yesterday.
Western province will have its launch later
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