Bulgaria: all 3 Operators' Prepaid Offers Compared

[inquisitor]

Being regularly in Bulgaria, I've had experience with all three national GSM operators, which I would like to share.

When M-Tel rolled out their network in 1995 they were the first GSM network operator in Bulgaria. They hold the biggest market share and so have the highest prices. Mobilkom Austria is their owner after acquiring M-Tel in July 2005.

Globul, owned by Greek OTE, entered market in late 2001 and provides a nearly 100% coverage, like M-Tel does. Globul's CSD-based internet dial-up access for only lv 0,06/min is worth mentioning - 9600 kbit/s is a nerve-racking experience, but it's enough to check your eMails, chat through an instant messenger or have a look at news from home, when deactivating images in your webbrowser. GPRS is still not available to prepaid customers, but Globul's GPRS rates for postpaid customers correspond to those of M-Tel.

In early 2006 the last operator, Bulgarian Telecom BTC's vivatel, started business and hasn't issued a coverage map so far. When I was in Bulgaria in September of this year I had always very good coverage, allthough traveling to smaller towns in the interior of the country. I think coverage could only become an issue, if you travel to remote mountain sites, where there's no tourism. Vivatel has the lowest international tariffs, but all international calls are transferred through VoIP, which caused lower speech quality from time to time, when I tried it in summer, but was acceptable anyway.

The 3G networks of M-Tel and Globul are in an early state of roll-out and so are available only in the capital, Sofia, and in the big cities (Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas). I can neither tell you if Bulgarian prepaid SIMs are admitted to the 3G networks, nor if those are 3G-capable (USIMs) at all.

SIM cards of all three operators are sold at relatively low prices (approx. ? 10) and do not require any registration - just buy it and put it in your phone.

all prices in Bulgarian leva, 1,00 leva = EUR 0,51 = $ 0,65

 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? M-Tel ? ? ? ? ? Globul ? ? ? ? ?vivatel

frequencies ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? GSM900/1800 ? ? GSM900/1800 ? ? GSM900/1800
 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? UMTS2100 ? ? ? ?UMTS2100

product name ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Prima ? ? ? ? ? b-connect ? ? ? predplatena

Bulgaria landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 0,54 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,348 ? ? ? ? ? 0,44

Bulgaria mobile (internal) ? ? ?0,54 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,348 ? ? ? ? ? 0,44

Bulgaria mobile (others) ? ? ? ?0,54 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,468 ? ? ? ? ? 0,44

Germany landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?3,60 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,188 ? ? ? ? ? 0,72

Germany mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?3,60 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,74 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,72

Greece landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,188 ? ? ? ? ? 0,72

Greece mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,74 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,44

Romania landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,188 ? ? ? ? ? 0,86

Romania mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,74 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,44

Turkey landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,188 ? ? ? ? ? 0,86

Turkey mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2,88 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,74 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,44

UK landline ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 3,60 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,188 ? ? ? ? ? 0,72

UK mobile ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 3,60 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,74 ? ? ? ? ? ?1,44

USA ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5,76 ? ? ? ? ? ?2,208 ? ? ? ? ? 0,72

SMS ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 0,25 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,132 ?? ? ? ? ?0,19/0,30 to abroad

GPRS WAP/internet (1 MB) ? ? ? ?4,80* ? ? ? ? ? postpaid only ? 6,00

CSD wap/internet (1 min) ? ? ? ?0,11 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,06 ? ? ? ? ? ?0,11



*) price varies on total amount per session:
 ? ?up to 2 MB ? ? ? ? 4,80/MB
 ?? from 2 to 5 MB ? ? 3,60/MB
 ?? from 5 to 10 MB ? ?2,40/MB
 ? ?from 10 to 25 MB ? 1,80/MB
 ? ?from 25 to 50 MB ? 1,50/MB
 ?? more than 50 MB ? ?1,20/MB

All three operators have additional options, that allow discounts on friends' numbers or for reaching a certain amount of SMS per month, but since this comparsion is primarily addressed to foreigners visiting Bulgaria for a rather short period, I disregarded those discounts that only make sense for continued regular use.
Anyway, vivatel is obviously the cheapest of all operators. If you want to get on the internet, you should consider buying a Globul SIM, too.

[mach1]

Hi,do you tested roaming vivatel prepaid card in germany and another country?
USSD codes *102# works or no?

[Effendi]

By now Vivatel has roaming agreements only with:
Serbia, Mobtel
Turkey, Turkcell
Greece, TIM
Romania, Orange
Hungary, T-Mobile
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mobi?s
Russia, Vimpelcom (Beeline)
Ukraine, Astelit (Life )
Israel, Cellcom
Maldives, Watanyia

[inquisitor]

In Germany my Vivatel prepaid SIM is admitted to E-Plus' GSM network only, but not to their 3G network. I can receive SMS, but can't place or receive calls or send SMS. *102# is blocked, too.

For E-Plus coverage see http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=de&net=e3

Regarding other countries, I haven't tested yet my Vivatel SIM there.

[mach1]

Only in E-Plus GSM network register?When is received call CLIP works?
Roaming with this prepaid is too bad USSD codes not works with many country for credit status.

[inquisitor]

You are not being notified of incoming calls at all, while you're on E-Plus - incoming SMS is the only working service.