Mobile data rates under the microscope

The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) wants to put mobile data rates between cellular providers in the spotlight, co-chairperson Marc Furman recently said at a press event.

He said that they aren’t ready to talk about a concrete strategy, but said that they want to look at costs such as the per-Gigabyte and APN rates that mobile network operators charge their customers.

Mobile data pricing ranges from as low as R0.02/MB (or R20/GB) when used in a data bundle, but can go as high as R2/MB out-of-bundle.

Marc Furman

ISPA went on to explain that mobile operators have no model for virtual operators, or for other resellers, while these models are available in the fixed-line space.

“Being a converged ISP and meeting the needs of your customers is nigh impossible,” said Mohammad Patel, deputy chair of the Wireless Access Providers’ Association of South Africa (WAPA).

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