Not like this, Cell C

Cell C recently increased the billing increments on its data products from 5KB to 25KB – a change which the company said is aimed creating billing efficiencies.

“The 25KB increment is in line with international standards – which is what is charged when you roam,” Cell C said.

This statement is not very convincing. International roaming is one of the cellular industry’s most hated practices, and to base anything on this system is likely to anger consumers.

One industry expert said that the billing increment increase is an easy way for Cell C to make more money from data. He added that Cell C may have thought they could make this change without anyone noticing.

He compared the increase in data billing increments to moving from a per-second billing model to a per-minute billing model. Consumers pay more, and the operator generates more revenue.

Cell C’s change from 5KB to 25KB data billing increments mean that the operator’ increments are multiple times larger than its competitors, as shown below.

Cell C was asked why they moved the data billing increments to a higher 25KB (and not to a lower value) when it is not in the favour of consumers, but the company did not answer this question.

The company also did not comment on the fact that it followed the decision to increase OOB data rates, which may show that the company is looking to increase data revenues.

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