Mobile broadband data prices: how low can it go?

A lot lower than the VC's & MTN's would 'feel comfortable' with. Ask the smaller guys, they'll tell you the truth.
 
You know all they ever tell us is that it is unsustainable!! I hardly ever see any of these CEOs etc giving us even a clue as to why this sort of pricing is unsustainable!! Surely it cannot cost that much to provision data on a mobile network? I mean it if it did and that's the absolute truth then they'd be smart enough to tell us exactly the reasons why the cost is that high and we'd be silenced once and for all! But right now we complain and they evade and it must point to the fact that these morons are lying to us! I hope one day all of this brought to the light and these selfish idiots go down!
 
Cell C are the only ones who are only ones doing anything, I have had difficulty with them in the past but this last month or so, it has been pretty good (touch wood) and even when it wasn't perfect when it was working, it was pretty damn good.

VC and MTN just don't give a flying *&% that VC surf at am (when hardly anyone could give a flying feck) crap is extremely insulting. I don't know why such a fatcat company like VC choose to use a dictator type character in their ads, it really says something doesn't it? I think we won't be seeing any change from the fatties, until it's too late. And even if they do something expect crumbs. I really hope cell c does well. They are improving and even trying to improve their infrastructure. They may not be perfect but they are a hell of a lot cheaper and only getting better.
 
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Vodacom, MTN and 8ta keep saying that Cell C's pricing is unsustainable in the long term, but this promotion has been running for 6 - 7 months now. More than half a year. I'm beginning to think that this qualifies as long term.
 
If we want to guess at the theoretical sustainability of such rates wouldn't a cursory analysis of other countries be at least somewhat informative? I dug up the following recently on another thread with just a few minutes online research:

First for comparison, if you buy 1.2 GB from Vodacom, you are paying R240.83/GB. Out of bundle = R2000/GB.

USA: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
Per-GB rate on their '4G' is $10 = R68.50/GB, dropping to $8/GB = R54.74/GB on 10GB plans. Out of bundle rate (no such concept - hence this actually the equivalent of what Vodacom call "Advanced", and charge more for): R68.50/GB.

New Zealand: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/plan...ctGroupItemId=grp74400002&menuKey=mnit1400020
NZ$40.85 = R211 gives you 3GB (plus 30 free minutes and 300 free SMSs) but even if we ignore the free stuff that's under R70/GB.

Malaysia: http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/mobile/browse_search/index.asp
Similar pricepoint again: R199 for 3GB = R66.34/GB

Cell C's rates: R62.49/GB on the 2GB special, R49.98/GB on the 5GB special - only slightly cheaper than Verizon on their most high-end plan, and their 2GB plan is more expensive per GB than Verizon's 10GB plan. In other words, Cell C's so-called "unsustainable" specials are actually "about the same" as what is paid in many other countries when not on 'special'!

Kenya: http://orange.co.ke/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104&Itemid=11
850KSH for 1GB = R69/GB
4990KSH for 10GB = R40.54/GB (Even cheaper than Cell C)

That +/- R70/GB price seems to come up over and over - enough that it seems like more than a coincidence to me. Somehow I suspect Cell C's rates are theoretically perfectly sustainable and could even be profitable, and I think they chose that price point carefully as a "just in case the competition decides to respond" price. Personally I suspect that due to the obvious ongoing price collusion, we won't see them hold .. probably Cell C will keep going with the promotion until they hit a certain percent of the market at which point R200+/GB becomes more profitable.

Seems to me MyBB doesn't do the hard-hitting consumer activism they used to ... they used to do research like this, now they seem more like a watered-down industry mouthpiece, defending high per-GB rates. Very disappointing. I suppose he who pays the piper calls the tune.

*Edit* Took me a while but I found these rates for India (Tata Docomo, Punjab) for 30-day bundles:
0.2 GB for R 13.80 = R 69.02/GB (There's that R70/GB price point again)
0.5 GB for R 30.83 = R 61.65/GB
0.75 GB for R 53.83 = R 71.78/GB
1.25 GB for R 76.84 = R 61.47/GB
2 GB for R 115.18 = R 57.59/GB
5 GB for R 153.52 = R 30.70/GB
15 GB for R 306.89 = R 20.46/GB (Best rate I've found so far)

Also had a quick look in Australia and found rates around R138.25/GB (though I didn't look too hard) http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid-mobile/txtanddata/index.htm

*Edit2* Adding a Canada operator: http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/connectplans/index.shtml
$30.00 0.5 GB R 211.11 = R 422.21 /GB (Ouch)
$40.00 1 GB R 281.47 = R 281.47 /GB
$50.00 2 GB R 351.84 = R 175.92 /GB
$65.00 5 GB R 457.40 = R 91.48 /GB
Interesting curve there.

Note I'm just picking totally random operators from each country; there may be cheaper available in some cases.

*Edit3* UK: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/mobile-internet/on-your-pc-or-mac/internet-dongles/index.htm
"Regular user" plan: £15/mo for 2GB = R82.41/GB, R164.82/GB thereafter. (Not sure what they mean by "line rental" though.)

*Edit4* More UK: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/
£15.99/mo for 15GB = R11.71/GB (24 mo contract) Wow - surely I missed something there?
 
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Tick said:
If we want to guess at the theoretical sustainability of such rates wouldn't a cursory analysis of other countries be at least somewhat informative? I dug up the following recently on another thread with just a few minutes online research:

First for comparison, if you buy 1.2 GB from Vodacom, you are paying R240.83/GB. Out of bundle = R2000/GB.

USA: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
Per-GB rate on their '4G' is $10 = R68.50/GB, dropping to $8/GB = R54.74/GB on 10GB plans. Out of bundle rate (no such concept - hence this actually the equivalent of what Vodacom call "Advanced", and charge more for): R68.50/GB.

New Zealand: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/plan...ctGroupItemId=grp74400002&menuKey=mnit1400020
NZ$40.85 = R211 gives you 3GB (plus 30 free minutes and 300 free SMSs) but even if we ignore the free stuff that's under R70/GB.

Malaysia: http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/mobile/browse_search/index.asp
Similar pricepoint again: R199 for 3GB = R66.34/GB

Cell C's rates: R62.49/GB on the 2GB special, R49.98/GB on the 5GB special - only slightly cheaper than Verizon on their most high-end plan, and their 2GB plan is more expensive per GB than Verizon's 10GB plan. In other words, Cell C's so-called "unsustainable" specials are actually "about the same" as what is paid in many other countries when not on 'special'!

Kenya: http://orange.co.ke/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104&Itemid=11
850KSH for 1GB = R69/GB
4990KSH for 10GB = R40.54/GB (Even cheaper than Cell C)

That +/- R70/GB price seems to come up over and over - enough that it seems like more than a coincidence to me. Somehow I suspect Cell C's rates are theoretically perfectly sustainable and could even be profitable, and I think they chose that price point carefully as a "just in case the competition decides to respond" price. Personally I suspect that due to the obvious ongoing price collusion, we won't see them hold .. probably Cell C will keep going with the promotion until they hit a certain percent of the market at which point R200+/GB becomes more profitable.

Seems to me MyBB doesn't do the hard-hitting consumer activism they used to ... they used to do research like this, now they seem more like a watered-down industry mouthpiece, defending high per-GB rates. Very disappointing. I suppose he who pays the piper calls the tune.

*Edit* Took me a while but I found these rates for India (Tata Docomo, Punjab) for 30-day bundles:
0.2 GB for R 13.80 = R 69.02/GB (There's that R70/GB price point again)
0.5 GB for R 30.83 = R 61.65/GB
0.75 GB for R 53.83 = R 71.78/GB
1.25 GB for R 76.84 = R 61.47/GB
2 GB for R 115.18 = R 57.59/GB
5 GB for R 153.52 = R 30.70/GB
15 GB for R 306.89 = R 20.46/GB (Best rate I've found so far)

Also had a quick look in Australia and found rates around R138.25/GB (though I didn't look too hard) http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid-mobile/txtanddata/index.htm

*Edit2* Adding a Canada operator: http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/connectplans/index.shtml
$30.00 0.5 GB R 211.11 = R 422.21 /GB (Ouch)
$40.00 1 GB R 281.47 = R 281.47 /GB
$50.00 2 GB R 351.84 = R 175.92 /GB
$65.00 5 GB R 457.40 = R 91.48 /GB
Interesting curve there.

Note I'm just picking totally random operators from each country; there may be cheaper available in some cases.

*Edit3* UK: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/mobile-internet/on-your-pc-or-mac/internet-dongles/index.htm
"Regular user" plan: £15/mo for 2GB = R82.41/GB, R164.82/GB thereafter. (Not sure what they mean by "line rental" though.)

*Edit4* More UK: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/
£15.99/mo for 15GB = R11.71/GB (24 mo contract) Wow - surely I missed something there?
Click to expand...

Excellent work bro, just to note that in countries like the U.S their minimum wage is about $10 an hour, where here its about R7-10 an hour, so they still have a much better bite at the cherry even if our rates would come down to R70 a gig.

What I dont undertstand about these big companies, is cant they see, if they lower their prices, more people will be using the internet and hence more data usage etc which would offset their expenditure. I personally feel theyre petrified of fair prices because of Skype etc. Their call charges were a rip-off from the inception of the mtn/VC cartel back in the 90's and now theyre doing everything to 'sustain' these rip-off/disgusting prices. Same goes for Telkom and their reluctance to make internet affordable, all these fat cats are in the same boat laughing their asses off at us.

:mad: I get mad thinking about it.
 
Tick said:
If we want to guess at the theoretical sustainability of such rates wouldn't a cursory analysis of other countries be at least somewhat informative? I dug up the following recently on another thread with just a few minutes online research:

First for comparison, if you buy 1.2 GB from Vodacom, you are paying R240.83/GB. Out of bundle = R2000/GB.

USA: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
Per-GB rate on their '4G' is $10 = R68.50/GB, dropping to $8/GB = R54.74/GB on 10GB plans. Out of bundle rate (no such concept - hence this actually the equivalent of what Vodacom call "Advanced", and charge more for): R68.50/GB.

New Zealand: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/plan...ctGroupItemId=grp74400002&menuKey=mnit1400020
NZ$40.85 = R211 gives you 3GB (plus 30 free minutes and 300 free SMSs) but even if we ignore the free stuff that's under R70/GB.

Malaysia: http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/mobile/browse_search/index.asp
Similar pricepoint again: R199 for 3GB = R66.34/GB

Cell C's rates: R62.49/GB on the 2GB special, R49.98/GB on the 5GB special - only slightly cheaper than Verizon on their most high-end plan, and their 2GB plan is more expensive per GB than Verizon's 10GB plan. In other words, Cell C's so-called "unsustainable" specials are actually "about the same" as what is paid in many other countries when not on 'special'!

Kenya: http://orange.co.ke/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104&Itemid=11
850KSH for 1GB = R69/GB
4990KSH for 10GB = R40.54/GB (Even cheaper than Cell C)

That +/- R70/GB price seems to come up over and over - enough that it seems like more than a coincidence to me. Somehow I suspect Cell C's rates are theoretically perfectly sustainable and could even be profitable, and I think they chose that price point carefully as a "just in case the competition decides to respond" price. Personally I suspect that due to the obvious ongoing price collusion, we won't see them hold .. probably Cell C will keep going with the promotion until they hit a certain percent of the market at which point R200+/GB becomes more profitable.

Seems to me MyBB doesn't do the hard-hitting consumer activism they used to ... they used to do research like this, now they seem more like a watered-down industry mouthpiece, defending high per-GB rates. Very disappointing. I suppose he who pays the piper calls the tune.

*Edit* Took me a while but I found these rates for India (Tata Docomo, Punjab) for 30-day bundles:
0.2 GB for R 13.80 = R 69.02/GB (There's that R70/GB price point again)
0.5 GB for R 30.83 = R 61.65/GB
0.75 GB for R 53.83 = R 71.78/GB
1.25 GB for R 76.84 = R 61.47/GB
2 GB for R 115.18 = R 57.59/GB
5 GB for R 153.52 = R 30.70/GB
15 GB for R 306.89 = R 20.46/GB (Best rate I've found so far)

Also had a quick look in Australia and found rates around R138.25/GB (though I didn't look too hard) http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid-mobile/txtanddata/index.htm

*Edit2* Adding a Canada operator: http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/connectplans/index.shtml
$30.00 0.5 GB R 211.11 = R 422.21 /GB (Ouch)
$40.00 1 GB R 281.47 = R 281.47 /GB
$50.00 2 GB R 351.84 = R 175.92 /GB
$65.00 5 GB R 457.40 = R 91.48 /GB
Interesting curve there.

Note I'm just picking totally random operators from each country; there may be cheaper available in some cases.

*Edit3* UK: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/mobile-internet/on-your-pc-or-mac/internet-dongles/index.htm
"Regular user" plan: £15/mo for 2GB = R82.41/GB, R164.82/GB thereafter. (Not sure what they mean by "line rental" though.)

*Edit4* More UK: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/
£15.99/mo for 15GB = R11.71/GB (24 mo contract) Wow - surely I missed something there?
Click to expand...

Fantastic investigations!

Just by looking at the scaling options, is seems that R60/GB is about right. Remember about 2 or 3 years ago this was the pricing for DSL?

Lets ignore the R11/GB and take the lowest about R20. Shows that vodacom's markup is about 1200% but here's an eye opener for you:

Message via mxit/chat - 1c
Message via sms - 80c
If data is 1200% markup, that means mxit message cost is 0.08c, making an sms price 1000x more expensive than the data cost of a message - thats 100 000% "markup"
 
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On prices and sustainability:
Van Zyl highlighted the fact that even Cell C’s standard data bundle pricing is [-]far closer to[/-] still lower than Vodacom and MTN pricing than their promotional prepaid offering.
Click to expand...
There Jannie, I corrected it for you. (You failed to mention whether you think this standard data bundle pricing is sustainable) :confused:

On future price reductions:
Van Zyl said that consumers can expect price reductions of a few cents per MB in the short term, but predicted that prices will not fall to below 10c per MB in the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...
This is what VodacomData said on 19/08/2009:
VodacomData said:
No price decrease on the cards at the moment but in the foreseeable future yes.
Click to expand...

Jannie, can you please enlighten us on what Vodacom defines as the foreseeable future?
 
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It is unsustainable because it will affect the profits.

Cell C is building up a large enough customer base in the mean time with their special that in the end volumes kick in and the special is sustainable(and vodascum and partner in crime MTN don't even see it), Go Cell C
 
It's a strategy by Cell C to say it's a promotion, that way VC etc will think this will end at some point and thus not drop prices now. That way Cell C can take their customers for some time to come.

Cell C doesn't want them to drop prices yet.

Unfortunately Jannie has lost credibility since his days as V3G. Nowadays he just sounds like a VC apologist.
 
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It is unsustainable until someone comes and shows them it isn't so. Look what happened with ADSL also unsustainable and now we have uncap interenet.
 
biometrics said:
It's a strategy by Cell C to say it's a promotion, that way VC etc will think this will end at some point and thus not drop prices now. That way Cell C can take their customers for some time to come.
Click to expand...
Interesting approach - if it is the case Vodacom fell for it hook, line and sinker!

Cell C doesn't want them to drop prices yet.
Click to expand...
From Jannie's comments regarding price reductions in the foreseeable future Vodacom is certainly obliging!

Unfortunately Jannie has lost credibility since his days as V3G. Nowadays he just sounds like a VC apologist.
Click to expand...
I have enormous respect for him - he assisted me when I had a serious coverage issue and the so-called help desk ignored me, but IMHO he now falls in the same category as Ben Kelly.
 
Tick said:
If we want to guess at the theoretical sustainability of such rates wouldn't a cursory analysis of other countries be at least somewhat informative? I dug up the following recently on another thread with just a few minutes online research:

First for comparison, if you buy 1.2 GB from Vodacom, you are paying R240.83/GB. Out of bundle = R2000/GB.

USA: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobilebroadband/?page=plans
Per-GB rate on their '4G' is $10 = R68.50/GB, dropping to $8/GB = R54.74/GB on 10GB plans. Out of bundle rate (no such concept - hence this actually the equivalent of what Vodacom call "Advanced", and charge more for): R68.50/GB.

New Zealand: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/plan...ctGroupItemId=grp74400002&menuKey=mnit1400020
NZ$40.85 = R211 gives you 3GB (plus 30 free minutes and 300 free SMSs) but even if we ignore the free stuff that's under R70/GB.

Malaysia: http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/mobile/browse_search/index.asp
Similar pricepoint again: R199 for 3GB = R66.34/GB

Cell C's rates: R62.49/GB on the 2GB special, R49.98/GB on the 5GB special - only slightly cheaper than Verizon on their most high-end plan, and their 2GB plan is more expensive per GB than Verizon's 10GB plan. In other words, Cell C's so-called "unsustainable" specials are actually "about the same" as what is paid in many other countries when not on 'special'!

Kenya: http://orange.co.ke/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104&Itemid=11
850KSH for 1GB = R69/GB
4990KSH for 10GB = R40.54/GB (Even cheaper than Cell C)

That +/- R70/GB price seems to come up over and over - enough that it seems like more than a coincidence to me. Somehow I suspect Cell C's rates are theoretically perfectly sustainable and could even be profitable, and I think they chose that price point carefully as a "just in case the competition decides to respond" price. Personally I suspect that due to the obvious ongoing price collusion, we won't see them hold .. probably Cell C will keep going with the promotion until they hit a certain percent of the market at which point R200+/GB becomes more profitable.

Seems to me MyBB doesn't do the hard-hitting consumer activism they used to ... they used to do research like this, now they seem more like a watered-down industry mouthpiece, defending high per-GB rates. Very disappointing. I suppose he who pays the piper calls the tune.

*Edit* Took me a while but I found these rates for India (Tata Docomo, Punjab) for 30-day bundles:
0.2 GB for R 13.80 = R 69.02/GB (There's that R70/GB price point again)
0.5 GB for R 30.83 = R 61.65/GB
0.75 GB for R 53.83 = R 71.78/GB
1.25 GB for R 76.84 = R 61.47/GB
2 GB for R 115.18 = R 57.59/GB
5 GB for R 153.52 = R 30.70/GB
15 GB for R 306.89 = R 20.46/GB (Best rate I've found so far)

Also had a quick look in Australia and found rates around R138.25/GB (though I didn't look too hard) http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/prepaid-mobile/txtanddata/index.htm

*Edit2* Adding a Canada operator: http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/connectplans/index.shtml
$30.00 0.5 GB R 211.11 = R 422.21 /GB (Ouch)
$40.00 1 GB R 281.47 = R 281.47 /GB
$50.00 2 GB R 351.84 = R 175.92 /GB
$65.00 5 GB R 457.40 = R 91.48 /GB
Interesting curve there.

Note I'm just picking totally random operators from each country; there may be cheaper available in some cases.

*Edit3* UK: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/mobile-internet/on-your-pc-or-mac/internet-dongles/index.htm
"Regular user" plan: £15/mo for 2GB = R82.41/GB, R164.82/GB thereafter. (Not sure what they mean by "line rental" though.)

*Edit4* More UK: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/
£15.99/mo for 15GB = R11.71/GB (24 mo contract) Wow - surely I missed something there?
Click to expand...

This is the type of research I expect from MyBB. It used to be like this. MyBB used top be a consumer activism site. Now it seems to just be a site which publishes the industry press releases.
 
less then R0.01 / mb cost to deliver a MB, I can assure you. They would still be making over 100% profit charging that. The problem is they expect the markup to be closer to SMS' 9,001% markup, as they are greedy little piggies.
 
Funny how it only seems to unsustainable here in South Africa.
 
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