No data bundle expiry for three years: Icasa

[access]

The problem is the fundamental disconnect between how they pay for data and how they charge you for data. Their cost is for capacity - speed - and not for volume. So they have to balance their spend on bandwidth (last "mile", transit, backbone, breakout, international) with their revenue from data. Selling you 1GB now doesn't actually correlate with any precision to how much bandwidth they need to provision to cater for your gig, if that gig could be used at any arbitrary time in the future.

it is indeed tricky, yet each unit of data still has a value assigned to it, which they use to get a price, to sell it.

a capacity/speed link paid for a month or a year, still equates to a certain amount of total of data. usage patterns do come into the calculation as you say, but make things tricky as said. its pretty impressive how its all calculated, if done correctly. which doesnt always seem like the case here in good ol' rsa.

 

[Ninja'd]

before this data business was everywhere, the cellular providers used to keep all the "expiring" minutes and sms in banks. called sms banks and minute banks.

i bet they do the same with data that "expires"

dodgy mofos

Wait what?

 

[Sinbad]

it is indeed tricky, yet each unit of data still has a value assigned to it, which they use to get a price, to sell it.

a capacity/speed link paid for a month or a year, still equates to a certain amount of total of data. usage patterns do come into the calculation as you say, but make things tricky as said. its pretty impressive how its all calculated, if done correctly. which doesnt always seem like the case here in good ol' rsa.

Yes indeed, and the point is if the data purchased now can be used at any time in the future, the formula becomes a lot harder to determine. At least with short expiry, usage is a lot more predictable.

 

[supersunbird]

Wait what?

Don't worry, he explains it better here for more lols:

every sms, minute(second) has a value/cost, that cost is paid for by the subscriber when they purchase a contract or airtime/sms, it is how they calculate the cost of contracts etc. these "digital assets" (for lack of a better description) do not just dissolve after the thought up expiration. the "digital asset" value leftover is(was) added to a record/database/"bank"(as it was called) and resold, assigned to staff or used for promotions/marketing/advertising. the "digital asset" was reused, not just reset to 0, they kept record of them and used them.

ever wonder how mtn for example can afford all the sms spam? there are millions of sms paid for sitting in the bank waiting for use.

 

[Ninja'd]

Don't worry, he explains it better here for more lols:

God, I love conspiracy theorists.

 

[access]

Don't worry, he explains it better here for more lols:

God, I love conspiracy theorists.

lol, theres an algorithm in the silicon valley tv series you 2 remind me of.

this bank thing was the way it was done 17 or so years ago, no idea if its still done today. was weird for me too at first. but hey, news you can choose to use or lose. each to their own.

 

[Sinbad]

This "bank" thing sounds feasible as an accounting technique - unused yet paid for bundles accruing to an account and used for promotional purposes.

 

[Cius]

The problem is the fundamental disconnect between how they pay for data and how they charge you for data. Their cost is for capacity - speed - and not for volume. So they have to balance their spend on bandwidth (last "mile", transit, backbone, breakout, international) with their revenue from data. Selling you 1GB now doesn't actually correlate with any precision to how much bandwidth they need to provision to cater for your gig, if that gig could be used at any arbitrary time in the future.

The current model is actually worse for that disconnect if you think about it. Look at it this way:

If they pay for the size of the pipe then expiring data at the end of each month would mean a massive increase in usage right before most of the date expires. People will literally just go on youtube to get some value for their money all at once. However if the data effectively never expires people will use it when it suits them and the load would be more even.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

Vodacom will never allow this

+1

I don't even know why there is a discussion on this. It ain't gonna happen

 

[supersunbird]

I wonder how this will impact number recycling then, VC is very lenient on 6 months, some of the networks recycle it much faster...

 

[Arthur]

I suspect their main reason is an accounting one. It's easy to know when the revenue accrues. But when does the cost? If a prepaid entitlement remains open for years, that has to be carried forward in the P&L.

 

[BBSA]

I'm waiting for Jannie to share his views.

 

[Nick333]

All is good and well, but what stops an SP to configure their system so that newest data will be used first, then the oldest data later? :erm:

Should use the oldest data first, then switch over to the newer data bundle and so on.

They do that already. I bought a new bundle from vodacom when I was down to 10 mb The 10 mb just sat there until they expired.