The truth about mobile data prices in South Africa

[CAPS LOCK]

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

What Vodacom charge is their business really. I'm just pointing out that the article doesn't accord with my reality.

 

[supersunbird]

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.

This thread shows why people keep voting ANC despite moaning about service delivery and burning things down just a short while before. They just can't vote for another party, and they just can't change cellular provider.

 

[rpm]

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.

I don't understand this argument. Why not just move to Rain or Telkom? They offer much lower prices.

There is very strong competition - Rain even offers affordable uncapped data. The fact that people like Vodacom and MTN's excellent coverage and network quality and do not want to move does not mean there is no competition.

 

[rpm]

This thread shows why people keep voting ANC despite moaning abut service delivery and burning things down just a short while before. They just can't vote for another party, and they just can't change cellular provider.

Correct! Which is why we wrote - "The narrative that “South Africa has some of the most expensive data rates on the continent” has become so entrenched that it is sacrilegious to challenge it."

 

[CAPS LOCK]

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?

Then why is the same pricing logic not used at the larger data bundles, comparatively?

You therefore saying, those who can't afford big bundles must foot-the-bill at 4X that of Tanzania in order to sustain a quality network.

Ja nee.

 

[rpm]

Then why is the same pricing logic not used at the larger data bundles, comparatively?

You therefore saying, those who can't afford big bundles must foot-the-bill at 4X that of Tanzania in order to sustain a quality network.

Ja nee.

I did not say that at all. Maybe you can quote where I said that?

What I am saying is that the input cost is related to the retail price. This is fairly standard economics.

 

[wizardofid]

But it is. Rain offers excellent deals.

How much of south Africa does rain cover.Rain has made it clear it will not be expanding outside of metro's and rural areas.If a good deal of the population don't have access to it and never will, is it really fair comparison to say they are cheaper.

It should be noted it is fixed lte, while the lte is offers isnt fixed, coverage areas is spotty at best and would have a hard time maintaining a constant connection any ways.Their 5g is however fixed and is not fair to use as a comparison either.

The comparison should have been what the average south african can get access to and is covered by considering 99% of south africans is pretty much covered and has access to at least one of the following gsm, edge, 3g or 4g and data prices is the same no matter the tech.

Adding fixed lte or 5g to the mixed doesnt actually make for a fair comparison, does it ?

 

[CAPS LOCK]

I did not say that at all. Maybe you can quote where I said that?

What I am saying is that the input cost is related to the retail price. This is fairly standard economics.

You didn't explicitly say that. You used that logic to invoke justification for our price.

I merely asked why that same justification is not applied at the larger data bundle set in South Africa.

I understand retail price is Vodacom's prerogative. I realise I can vote with my wallet. But what I don't understand is the purpose of the article - feels like you camping with them. That may not be your intention, it just feels that way.

 

[rpm]

I understand retail price is Vodacom's prerogative. I realise I can vote with my wallet. But what I don't understand is the purpose of the article - feels like you camping with them. That may not be your intention, it just feels that way.

This is understandable. As we said in the article - The narrative that “South Africa has some of the most expensive data rates on the continent” has become so entrenched that it is sacrilegious to challenge it.

The article highlights, or at least tries to highlight, that Vodacom and MTN should not be seen as "South Africa". If people argue Vodacom or MTN's prepaid data prices for smaller bundles are expensive in comparison with many other African countries, it is a fair argument. We can then consider why it is (coverage, network quality, possible greed, etc).

But to say "South Africa's mobile data prices are high" is simply incorrect. We have some of the lowest mobile data prices in many segments. This is the result of strong competition and having enough players to offer diversified products.

 

[Swa]

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

Not everyone can move.

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.

You can't get an overall picture by comparing Vodacom against themselves, so I honestly don't expect much from an MTN article either. But that's how things roll here, take one simple concept and create a series of articles over every aspect of it to milk it dry. The forums usually give much better information on real world pricing. So there's your

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

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?

No. That's only one aspect. That would be like saying it's fair for Checkers to charge 10 times more than Spar because it has a bigger store.

I also can't find unlimited LTE for under R379 and that is a phone only deal as well.

 

[rpm]

No. That's only one aspect. That would be like saying it's fair for Checkers to charge 10 times more than Spar because it has a bigger store.

Can you find a comparable African operation (coverage, Capex, network quality, 4G, etc) to Vodacom and MTN in South Africa. That will really help to get a like-for-like comparison.

 

[rpm]

How much of south Africa does rain cover. Rain has made it clear it will not be expanding outside of metro's and rural areas.If a good deal of the population don't have access to it and never will, is it really fair comparison to say they are cheaper.

And that is exactly the argument in the article. People are comparing the price of a network with only 33% 4G coverage with that of a network with 96% 4G coverage. That is not a fair comparison.

In most African countries the data coverage is poor, and prices are cheap. That is also the case with Rain (lower coverage and lower prices).

So, if you want to do a like-for-like comparison, why use a top-class network and compare it with a poor network? Why not like-for-like?

 

[whatwhat]

I am just glad I don't live in South Africa anymore and I pay around 300 rand for full uncapped LTE data.
Heck, even 5G you buy based on the speed you want - 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps or 1.5 Gbps uncapped.

This article is correct that one dare not question if SA has expensive data - you will get the wrath of Capex and other MBA speak thrown at you to try and baffle you with bullshit.

 

[wizardofid]

And that is exactly the argument in the article. People are comparing the price of a network with only 33% 4G coverage with that of a network with 96% 4G coverage. That is not a fair comparison.

In most African countries the data coverage is poor, and prices are cheap. That is also the case with Rain (lower coverage and lower prices).

So, if you want to do a like-for-like comparison, why use a top-class network and compare it with a poor network? Why not like-for-like?

Lesotho and South Africa, only two countries with commercial 5G. Secondly while most African countries have some form of LTE, how many has exstensive fixed lte coverage if any at all. So no compare apples with apples, and leave fixed lte and 5g where it belongs as a standalone comparison.

Additionally consider the article and the heading says "Mobile data" now unless I am mistaken "Fixed lte and fixed 5G" isn't mobile data so why is rain being thrown into the article. Rain 4G is still in essence "fixed"

There is only about what 6 odds countries that can reasonably be used as comparison as they have coverage over 50%, that have similar network expenditure, which can be used as a fair comparison on like for like basis.

A Country having 4 LTE towers, with little or no further expenditure is of course going to be cheaper is it fair to compare them with the few countries with constant network expansion and expenditure. ?

List of countries by 4G LTE penetration - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

List of LTE networks in Africa - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sdrawk]

South Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data in the world.
Vodacom still charges R2 per MB out of bundle. That's actually criminal...

 

[rpm]

South Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data in the world.
Vodacom still charges R2 per MB out of bundle. That's actually criminal...

South Africa has some of the cheapest mobile data in the world.
Rain charges R299 for an unlimited mobile data connection. That's actually brilliant...

 

[rick9k]

South Africa has some of the cheapest mobile data in the world.
Rain charges R299 for an unlimited mobile data connection. That's actually brilliant...

Ok, lets start with this R299 or what I have is the R479 for unlimted 4G.

It is advertised as

• Unlimited data
• Speeds up to 10Mbps
• Basic streaming 360p

So right off the mark it is already not just plain "unlimted 4G".
But then I am lucky enough to have a different rain sim as well on a package that rain does not offer and by doing tests connecting to the same tower on the same frequency at the same time of day I get results in speedtests of

R479 Unlimited
1.5Mbps down / 16.3 Mbps up
Which is pretty damn terrible and not anywhere near 10Mbps down.

However my other rain sim gets
23.3Mbps down /12.8Mbps up

Now that shows that my tower can deliver something decent however my R479 just magically can get nowhere near that speed, so I guess that portion of the advertisement where it said " And we are gonna throttle this thing to end of days and just blame tower congestion" never made it to the website.

But here you are telling us its "actually brilliant"

 

[rick9k]

Now I pay R1 for 1GB of MTN data, and I have 500 GBs (anytime) to use, it's great it is very fast and none of the hamstring BS that rain has.

But if mother , domestic worker . neighbor or anyone else I know wanted to go get 100GB of data to use this month they would have to pay R25 per gig.

So why should I be paying 4% of what someone else has to pay per gig?
Heaven forbid they only need 10GB because then I pay 2% of what they pay.

 

[rpm]

Now I pay R1 for 1GB of MTN data, and I have 500 GBs (anytime) to use, it's great it is very fast and none of the hamstring BS that rain has.

But if mother , domestic worker . neighbor or anyone else I know wanted to go get 100GB of data to use this month they would have to pay R25 per gig.

So why should I be paying 4% of what someone else has to pay per gig?
Heaven forbid they only need 10GB because then I pay 2% of what they pay.

That is definitely not suitable for them. Great news is that South Africa has many different operators and MVNOs. They can just pick another one.

And that is the beauty of a free market system. If you are not happy with one provider, use another one. If you are not happy with them, you can jump ship again.

I love choice and would not like the government to take my choice away.

 

[rick9k]

That is definitely not suitable for them. Great news is that South Africa has many different operators and MVNOs. They can just pick another one.

And that is the beauty of a free market system. If you are not happy with one provider, use another one. If you are not happy with them, you can jump ship again.

I love choice and would not like the government to take my choice away.

I'm sorry I didn't make it clear I was comparing MTN to MTN...............