The truth about mobile data prices in South Africa

[Herr der Verboten]

Come on MyBroadband. It has nothing to do with pricing of huge data bundles, but rather the one's that the poor can afford. Also, the mentioned ISP's are still making huge profits on existing "lower" prices. Then you have Vodacom who, together with the rest, was forced a while ago to implement a 30day carry-over of unused prepaid data. What did they do? Show us the fat middle finger!

MyTruth

 

[rpm]

Come on MyBroadband. It has nothing to do with pricing of huge data bundles, but rather the one's that the poor can afford. Also, the mentioned ISP's are still making huge profits on existing "lower" prices. Then you have Vodacom who, together with the rest, was forced a while ago to implement a 30day carry-over of unused prepaid data. What did they do? Show us the fat middle finger!

Good news is that there is competition. People can just move to a competitor. Like an ISP, as you mentioned.

 

[rpm]

Why only look at Vodacon? I would also take their coverage with a bag of salt. No way there's 99.8% coverage here. It's easy to make false claims but then have "coverage" where the signal is so weak and choppy it's unusable.

Vodacom offers a good comparison as it has numerous operations in Africa and they have the data for such a comparison. MTN will follow - we just did not get all their data yet.

 

[rpm]

Now please report the average margins year on year of Vodacom & MTN in South Africa.

What do you expect these margins to show?

 

[rpm]

"It is easy to cherry-pick specific data products from a South African mobile provider and then compare it to more affordable data products from an international operator." .. yet the article is literally cherry picked data

Can you explain which data is cherry picked? As I explained in a comment above, MTN data will follow.

 

[whatwhat]

"The claim that South Africa has some of the most expensive data rates in Africa is therefore misguided and even dangerous, as it can lead to undesirable actions from an uninformed government."

Prepaid 7 days

Tanzania

1GB

R19

South Africa

1GB

R80

Prepaid 30 days

Tanzania	1GB	R65
South Africa	1GB	R99
Mozambique	5GB	R101
Tanzania	5GB	R130
South Africa	5GB	R349

Another bullshit statement that their own data disproves.
Oh well it gets clicks and gives them ad revenue so nothing will change. Pity.

 

[uchoose]

After all the expediture the big two do and salaries they take at the top, profit is still pretty good, role on capitalism f@#* the poor everyone does especially the government.

 

[rpm]

aid 30 days

"The claim that South Africa has some of the most expensive data rates in Africa is therefore misguided and even dangerous, as it can lead to undesirable actions from an uninformed government."

Prepaid 7 days

Tanzania

1GB

R19

South Africa

1GB

R80

Prepaid 30 days

Tanzania	1GB	R65
South Africa	1GB	R99
Mozambique	5GB	R101
Tanzania	5GB	R130
South Africa	5GB	R349

Another bullshit statement that their own data disproves.
Oh well it gets clicks and gives them ad revenue so nothing will change. Pity.

Why don't you quote Rain's prices? The best value in Africa we could find.

 

[Saieden]

Why don't you quote Rain's prices? The best value in Africa we could find.

Why don't you quote yourself?

Rain faces backlash over slow speeds and poor support

Rain is facing a backlash from consumers over slow speeds and poor support. Here are the facts.

mybroadband.co.za

 

[CAPS LOCK]

The real truth from the comparison in data pricing is this:

Vodacom are clearly milking the poorest segment in SOUTH AFRICA. It's patently clear and abhorrent.

The comparatively cheaper "bigger bundles" is just a dressing that sugar-coats that seedy underbelly.

Actually - it's disgusting. Vodacom are shameful.

While I realise that it's a free market system, spectrum allocation and availability is a finite resource. That resource belongs to everyone in this country. It's incumbent on all networks (who purchased that spectrum) to use that resource responsibly. Vodacom in that comparative chart are not - they are milking the blood of the poorest in South Africa, Shameful.

It's like purchasing all the water rights in South Africa. And having a business model that capitalises the most from the largest and poorest segment in South Africa.

Change my mind.

 

[rpm]

Why don't you quote yourself?

Rain faces backlash over slow speeds and poor support

Rain is facing a backlash from consumers over slow speeds and poor support. Here are the facts.

mybroadband.co.za

This is exactly the argument of the article. You can get cheaper products, but the service levels are worse than more expensive products.

I prefer choice. High-quality products at higher prices, and lower-quality products at lower prices. This is exactly what we have in South Africa.

 

[rpm]

The real truth from the comparison in data pricing is this:

Vodacom are clearly milking the poorest segment in SOUTH AFRICA. It's patently clear and abhorrent.

The comparatively cheaper "bigger bundles" is just a dressing that sugar-coats that seedy underbelly.

Actually - it's disgusting. Vodacom are shameful.

While I realise that it's a free market system, spectrum allocation and availability is a finite resource. That resource belongs to everyone in this country. It's incumbent on all networks (who purchased that spectrum) to use that resource responsibly. Vodacom in that comparative chart are not - they are milking the blood of the poorest in South Africa, Shameful.

It's like purchasing all the water rights in South Africa. And having a business model that capitalises the most from the largest and poorest segment in South Africa.

Change my mind.

The argument of the article is not to see "Vodacom" as "South Africa". We have 5 mobile operators and many MVNOs. If you are not happy with your provider, move to another one. It is that simple.

 

[supersunbird]

"The claim that South Africa has some of the most expensive data rates in Africa is therefore misguided and even dangerous, as it can lead to undesirable actions from an uninformed government."

Prepaid 7 days

Tanzania

1GB

R19

South Africa

1GB

R80

Prepaid 30 days

Tanzania	1GB	R65
South Africa	1GB	R99
Mozambique	5GB	R101
Tanzania	5GB	R130
South Africa	5GB	R349

Another bullshit statement that their own data disproves.
Oh well it gets clicks and gives them ad revenue so nothing will change. Pity.

And now go look at the coverage... R19 (or R65) per GB is not at all usable by 40% of the Tanzanian population. while R80 (or R99) per GB is usable by 99.8% of SA population.

Now go think further about it till you reach the logical conclusion.

 

[CAPS LOCK]

The argument of the article is not to see "Vodacom" as "South Africa". We have 5 mobile operators and many MVNOs. If you are not happy with your provider, move to another one. It is that simple.

What the article sets out to achieve and what I gleaned are not the same. Fair enough. But That's not my problem or fault.

It cannot objectivity be claimed that R80 and R19 for South Africa and Tanzania respectively is not borne out of greed. It is patently obvious.

I'm say it again. Spectrum belongs to all. Telling me to go elsewhere means I must ventilate my objection with the powers who allocated the spectrum. And that is currently happening.

 

[Synaesthesia]

I went to Kenya recently. Can confirm that our data and mobile prices are outrageous. It's about a quarter of the cost there, sometimes less. I bought 3gb for R50, which lasted me the week. That was a normal deal, nothing special. I could have even had better deals.

Everywhere there was WiFi, kinda like Europe, even on my safari! I was watching Netflix and YouTube the whole time lol

Nah they've been ripping us off since the beginning, and they've got us by the balls. We obviously don't have proper competition which would have driven the prices down.

If you look at India its even cheaper, now that's competitiveness!

 

[CAPS LOCK]

And now go look at the coverage... R19 (or R65) per GB is not at all usable by 40% of the Tanzanian population. while R80 (or R99) per GB is usable by 99.8% of SA population.

Now go think further about it till you reach the logical conclusion.

Logically, it should be cheaper on South Africa.

 

[supersunbird]

The real truth from the comparison in data pricing is this:

Vodacom are clearly milking the poorest segment in SOUTH AFRICA. It's patently clear and abhorrent.

The comparatively cheaper "bigger bundles" is just a dressing that sugar-coats that seedy underbelly.

Actually - it's disgusting. Vodacom are shameful.

While I realise that it's a free market system, spectrum allocation and availability is a finite resource. That resource belongs to everyone in this country. It's incumbent on all networks (who purchased that spectrum) to use that resource responsibly. Vodacom in that comparative chart are not - they are milking the blood of the poorest in South Africa, Shameful.

It's like purchasing all the water rights in South Africa. And having a business model that capitalises the most from the largest and poorest segment in South Africa.

Change my mind.

Do you have Vodacom shares in your pension fund? Do you expect your pension fund to grow?

 

[supersunbird]

Logically, it should be cheaper on South Africa.

Really, a much bigger network that requires more capital to be put in (never mind having to deal with more theft at the towers) means you charge less?

 

[rpm]

Logically, it should be cheaper on South Africa.

But it is. Rain offers excellent deals.

 

[rpm]

It cannot objectivity be claimed that R80 and R19 for South Africa and Tanzania respectively is not borne out of greed. It is patently obvious.

It can indeed be done

Can you compare the CAPEX per subscriber for South Africa and for Tanzania? That is a clear comparison of how much a mobile operator spends to ensure a quality network per subscriber.

If Vodacom spend 4 times more per subscriber in SA than in Tanzania, is that not fair to charge 4 times more?