Terrible research in mobile data pricing report

[konfab]

What kind of bullshit logic is that?

Basic economics.

You have bad options A to L. If you pick one of those bad options, that is a market signal that it's fine? Lol.

Yup. No-one is forcing you to buy anything.

Until Afrihost mobile offer decent phones with their contracts, they are not a viable alternative. And anyone who has had issues with disappearing data on Afrihost data will not trust them easily again.

Music to Vodacom and MTN's ears. You have just signalled that you would rather have a contract with a pretty iPhone and pay for OOB than to buy one prepaid and use Afrihost.

 

[konfab]

I have yet to read the report, but I suspect that these 2 were singled out for a special mention because they're so far out in terms of their pricing and policies.

"Well you see, car competition is a market failure in South Africa because BMW and Mercedes are priced out of what most people can afford, therefore we need the government to regulate the prices of all cars"

 

[TrueSeeker]

The SA consumer is battered and blue. We are used to be treated like milking cows, not just by businesses but also by government, so nothing happens. The SA consumer has no fight left. Nothing to fight for. Businesses will always do their utmost to price their products on how much people are willing to pay. The providers will fight tooth and nail to maintain their current profit margins. They have already appealed to consumer emotions in the past to get regulatory benefit with regards to the cost of their operations ostensibly to pass on the benefit to the end user. Then just reinvested the gains into their own networks and shareholder profits/buying back shares. Almost no benefit to the end user.
Right now there's all the hooha around digital migration and the extra spectrum they will have access to. Based on their past behavior I am quite certain the end user will see very little benefit even though they are using popular opinion to push their agenda. Not that I'm against digital migration. I just believe that they are lying about who they want to benefit. It will not be an equitable resolution between shareholders and end users. 90%+ of the benefit will go to shareholders.

As mentioned they will fight tooth and nail to maintain what they have already gained. To prevent similar abuse in the future providers should commit to pricing reductions before supposedly consumer interest regulations are passed or before reforms are completed. It should be central in the process.

 

[j4ck455]

What were the MTN data inconsistencies?

The Competition Commission was asked for comment about the outdated and inaccurate information in the report, but it did not respond by the time of publication.

After reading the article (in particular the section with the heading "What the Competition Commission report states") I suspect the Competition Commission report was written by the EFF, perhaps MyBB should be asking Juju to comment on the crap in the report.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

Basic economics.


Yup. No-one is forcing you to buy anything.


Music to Vodacom and MTN's ears. You have just signalled that you would rather have a contract with a pretty iPhone and pay for OOB than to buy one prepaid and use Afrihost.

No. I have signalled that when I have data disappear from a provider I am unlikely to trust that provider anymore. There are many basic things lacking from Afrihost offerings which people need from the cellular service, and is considered standard requirement.

 

[richjdavies]

"Well you see, car competition is a market failure in South Africa because BMW and Mercedes are priced out of what most people can afford, therefore we need the government to regulate the prices of all cars"

If BMW and Mercedes were 2 of only 4 operators and the other were Tata and Geely (pretty crappy in comparison and they had to sold/serviced at BMW dealerships anywhere rural...) then that would be a fair comparison.

But it's not there are MANY car brands available and active international competition. Mobile is different, there are only 4/5 operators. There is a legal barrier to entry. It is NOT subject to the will of the market.

The article is a complete fluff piece by someone either blinded by their affiliation or directly paid for by Vodacom. They don't even go as far to talk about MTN... And focus on fibre and ADSL for no apparent reason.

The age of the prices is of no interest as long as they are all from the same date, otherwise there will always be the complaint of "why not use up to date" every week or month that goes by.

Vodacom have been caught operating an oligopoly with MTN - someday we'll spot some outright collusion.

 

[konfab]

No. I have signalled that when I have data disappear from a provider I am unlikely to trust that provider anymore. There are many basic things lacking from Afrihost offerings which people need from the cellular service, and is considered standard requirement.

You could also have bought a dual sim phone and have a dedicated data plan from someone else. Or go with Afrihost.

Lots of options, you choose Vodacom and OOB because it suits you.

 

[Swa]

This article is almost as bad as the report. Where has Vodacom's price reductions been for the past 3/4 years? The report might as well be up to date as their 1GB bundle still costs the same. And why bring adsl and fibre into it? It's like you're trying to say that because fixed line is still lacking the mobile operators can just be excused for their behaviour.

I say almost because the only area the report is lacking is in their view that the cost of smaller bundles should be within 75% of the larger ones. This is flawed imo as there's no reason there can't be bigger discounts on larger bundles. The issue is that large bundles are also too expensive which it kind of just glossed over.

Please send your feedback to : [email protected]

Put your thoughts in on how we can change the situation in the country.

Be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

What can the CC do however? I'm not for price regulation just as I'm not for an entity being involved in every business transaction as the case already is. I'd much rather have better ethical business practices like non-expiring data and no default OOB and let the market decide. We're heading in the right direction between Cell C, Rain and Telkom but the supposed regulator is screwing up royally. I'd rather see the existing regulations enforced properly.