Prepaid data prices — Vodacom vs MTN

MTN’s prepaid data is slightly cheaper than Vodacom’s, particularly for one-day data bundles, a MyBroadband analysis has shown.

MyBroadband compared the pricing of daily, weekly, and monthly prepaid data bundles from Vodacom and MTN.

While both mobile operators offer similar pricing for their higher data allocations — such as their 1GB daily, 2GB weekly, 10GB and 30GB monthly bundles — MTN tends to be more cost-effective for smaller data allocations.

Potential customers should also consider that a recent MyBroadband Insights report ranked MTN’s mobile network as the best in South Africa, consistently achieving the country’s highest average download and upload speeds.

MTN’s average download speed during  Q4 2021 was 74.66 Mbps. Vodacom was a distant second with an average of 41.55 Mbps.

As the data bundle sizes are not immediately comparable, MyBroadband calculated the price per megabyte for each bundle to determine which were more cost-effective.

Daily prepaid data bundles

MTN’s prepaid data prices are generally lower per megabyte for one-day bundles than Vodacom’s.

Prices for MTN’s daily bundles start at R0.17 per megabyte, compared to R0.25 for Vodacom’s 20MB package.

Both Vodacom’s and MTN’s 1GB daily bundles cost R29 or R0.029 per megabyte.

Weekly prepaid data bundles

Vodacom generally beats out MTN when it comes to seven-day prepaid data bundles.

However, MTN’s 5GB seven-day bundle is the most cost-effective at R0.04 per megabyte. Vodacom’s largest 2GB weekly bundle works out to R0.05 per megabyte.

Vodacom offers seven-day bundles ranging from 120MB to 2GB. MTN’s customers have a wider choice of weekly bundles, with data allocations starting from 20MB and going up to 5GB.

Monthly prepaid data bundles

Both mobile operators offer similar pricing for their 30-day data bundles. MTN’s mid-range data allocations — 3GB and 5GB — are available for slightly less per megabyte than Vodacom’s 2GB and 4GB data allocations.

However, it should be noted that MTN’s 30-day bundles, excluding its 500MB and 1GB packages, come with extra data to be used during off-peak hours.

Therefore, those who use data in the early hours of the morning will benefit from choosing MTN’s 30-day packages over Vodacom’s.

Now read: Rolling out high-frequency 5G challenging in South Africa — MTN and Vodacom