Mobile data costs too expensive

By Ashleigh Brown, journalist, Justmoney

Mobile users are shifting from voice to data more now than ever before. Due to high data costs in South Africa, this has left many with exorbitant cell phone bills at the end of the month.

Mobile operators have seen massive growth in data consumption as consumers turn to services like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, and other applications for instant communication at lower costs compared to traditional voice services.

However, many operators are now making voice calling and SMSing cheaper, in order to still get revenue from those services.

Even though voice calls and SMS’ are cheaper than they were, many smartphone users prefer to use data based communication platforms.

In a press release Vodacom said that they had attracted 1.81 million new data users to grow their data customers to 17.01 million and increased total data usage by 70%.

“Our strategy is to provide customers, particularly those on tight budgets, with exactly what they need, when they need it, and at a price they can afford. Much has been said about bringing down prices for those consuming large amounts of voice and data, but this bundle strategy is the key to driving internet penetration for all South Africans,” said Phil Patel, Vodacom’s Chief Commercial officer.

WI-Fi

With an increasing need to stay connected, government has started ambitious projects to help keep South Africans online.

Helen Zille, premier of the Western Cape, promised in her State of the Province Address that the province would see universal internet coverage in a deal signed with Neotel.

"Neotel has therefore generously committed to funding the infrastructure rollout of 384 Wi-Fi hotspots, using Western Cape Government buildings, which will cover almost every ward in the province. Our government will be subsidising the free portion of citizens' internet access," said Zille.

Another such project is Project Isizwe. This project aims to provide free internet to the City of Tshwane.

The South African National Taxi Association (Santaco) started rolling out a free service on 12 June 2014, with an intension to equip 1500 taxis in 50 taxi ranks across the country with WI-FI access points, reported IOL.

Adding to this, many other taxi services, such as Uber and African Eagle, partnered with Orange, are bringing free WI-FI to their customers.

Data costs

Below is a table comparing data costs across major service providers, as on 6 August 2014.

Vodacom		CellC		MTN		Telkom Mobile
Data Bundle	Price	Data Bundle	Price	Data Bundle	Price	Data Bundle	Price
10MB	R9	50MB	R7.50	5MB	R3	250MB	R38
30MB	R25	100MB	R15	20MB	R10	500MB	R69
100MB	R49	300MB	R45	50MB	R19	1GB	R119
250MB	R99	500MB	R75	100MB	R29	5GB	R349
500MB	R159	1GB	R149	300MB	R79	2GB+1GB*	R149
1.024GB	R279	2GB	R199	500MB	R99	25GB+25GB*	R999
2.048GB	R369	3GB	R299	1GB	R149	60GB+60GB*	R1800
3.072GB	R499	5GB	R399	2GB	R245
5.120GB	R829	10GB	R699	3GB	R299
10.240GB	R1629	20GB	R1199	5GB	R399
20.480GB	R3199			10GB	R599

Source: Vodacom, CellC, MTN, Telkom Mobile, prices correct as of 6 August 2014. *= Extra data with Telkom Mobile is active between 12am and 5am.

Mobile data costs too expensive

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