Don't blame Vodacom and MTN for Government's failures

And mybb didn't let the chance past to smear the government
 
Did The Competition Commission examine the government’s inability to award extra spectrum? The government should have sorted out the spectrum issue years ago. If that had happened, prices may have been lower. The reason prices are so high is that cellular providers have to procure overly expensive technology to ensure that the needs of their subscribers are met.
The Competition Commission is deluded, as, yet again, another inept government commission fails to examine all the facts, and rather spews populist rhetoric
 
Markd said:
Is the staff writer completely deluded? The cartel-like approach to MTN and Vodacom maintaining some of the highest data prices in the world necessitate an intervention like this. Cry me a river while I enjoy cheaper data, thanks.
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Absolutely pathetic, they should be punished and punished hard.
Bloody cartels.
 
vdpollm said:
Did The Competition Commission examine the government’s inability to award extra spectrum? The government should have sorted out the spectrum issue years ago. If that had happened, prices may have been lower. The reason prices are so high is that cellular providers have to procure overly expensive technology to ensure that the needs of their subscribers are met.
The Competition Commission is deluded, as, yet again, another inept government commission fails to examine all the facts, and rather spews populist rhetoric
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yeah and its always GVT's fault isnt it?
20 billion a year profits says you are wrong
 
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clickingbuttons said:
You should start your own not for profit cellular provider. You can fix it all yourself bro
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Ok bro you welcome to keep paying inflated prices for a service, that by the way is cheaper up north than it is here in the country they are based.
I never said no profit but if you like OOB and paying the highest prices for the shitty service and products we get then you go ahead, BRO
 
Wonder how many people will be retrenched for the CEO to retain those record high salaries. 1st they lost their high stream OOB income and now this...
 
marine1 said:
Ok bro you welcome to keep paying inflated prices for a service, that by the way is cheaper up north than it is here in the country they are based.
I never said no profit but if you like OOB and paying the highest prices for the shitty service and products we get then you go ahead, BRO
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I understand that maybe you are correct in that this "duopoly" is price gouging but this can only happen if there is no competition or if a price fixing cartel has formed. Perhaps MTN and Vodacom do have a price fixing agreement but this doesn't stop the other mobile providers from doing their part in bringing prices down similar to the way the fiber providers have caused the priced of fixed line line data to plummet since they came to market.
 
Must said, Voda and mtn are force to give coverage to places without profit to keep their license. And when midnight shoppers take there batteries government do nothing about that.
 
first its the governments fault to not release the required spectrum, SA is one of the last countries that has not digitalized TV.
secondly, even after the networks get the required spectrum, I don't feel they will cut down prices unless they are forced to do so, either by the government or by competition.
 
SaiyanZ said:
Here is Vodacom financials. EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin of 38.9% (page 8). R86.6bill revenue, EBITDA of R33.7bill.


Also can't really see how much is spent on marketing and other fluff instead of just providing a service. Doesn't seem like they are providing a lot of value with profits like that.
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Yep, and they could make lower profit per mb and higher turnover with sufficient spectrum.
 
clickingbuttons said:
You should start your own not for profit cellular provider. You can fix it all yourself bro
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You can't... it's licensed spectrum.
They've got it all tied up and agreements with RAIN and Cell-C/Telkom to tie up more and prevent competition.

So no. You can't start your own.

Cell-C's potential deal with Telkom was killed off by the MTN Roaming agreement.

For the question of whose fault is it for high data prices - i'd give it a 2 -1 win to Government:
+ 1 Government Digital TV problem and lack of progress allocated spectrum (too busy figuring out how to many money off it- e.g. WOAN)
+ 1 Government doesn't crack down on CLEAR duopoly pricing (and price gouging, contract breaking etc.) - consumer and competition protection is ZERO (this competition commisssion thing will take another 2 years before anything comes of it (like the OOB fiasco)
+ 1 MTN/Vodacom clearly are tying up spectrum and price matching like an Econ 10.2 class would show you ...
here's one:

10.2 Oligopoly – Principles of Economics

opentextbc.ca opentextbc.ca

"Would you expect the kinked demand curve to be more extreme (like a right angle) or less extreme (like a normal demand curve) if each firm in the cartel produces a near-identical product like OPEC and petroleum? What if each firm produces a somewhat different product? Explain your reasoning. "

Quel surprise... MTN And Vodacom seem to charge almost IDENTICAL prices for data?!
 
Who's next? Woolies must offer their tin ice cream and full chicken for free. then spitz and zara must drop their prices and give every South African free underwear and socks
 
richjdavies said:
You can't... it's licensed spectrum.
They've got it all tied up and agreements with RAIN and Cell-C/Telkom to tie up more and prevent competition.

So no. You can't start your own.

Cell-C's potential deal with Telkom was killed off by the MTN Roaming agreement.

For the question of whose fault is it for high data prices - i'd give it a 2 -1 win to Government:
+ 1 Government Digital TV problem and lack of progress allocated spectrum (too busy figuring out how to many money off it- e.g. WOAN)
+ 1 Government doesn't crack down on CLEAR duopoly pricing (and price gouging, contract breaking etc.) - consumer and competition protection is ZERO (this competition commisssion thing will take another 2 years before anything comes of it (like the OOB fiasco)
+ 1 MTN/Vodacom clearly are tying up spectrum and price matching like an Econ 10.2 class would show you ...
here's one:

10.2 Oligopoly – Principles of Economics

opentextbc.ca opentextbc.ca

"Would you expect the kinked demand curve to be more extreme (like a right angle) or less extreme (like a normal demand curve) if each firm in the cartel produces a near-identical product like OPEC and petroleum? What if each firm produces a somewhat different product? Explain your reasoning. "

Quel surprise... MTN And Vodacom seem to charge almost IDENTICAL prices for data?!
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Rain is new. How did they do it?
 
I think this is MTN/Vodacom sponsored article.
A sane person will know that mtn and vodacom are excessively overcharging especially the poor. In Sandton and places like it have access to cheap broadband internet. The people who come here and defend mtn and voda are mostly from those areas.
 
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