Cellular11.04.2013

SA’s mobile prices are expensive, very expensive

By Staff Writer

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The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Information Technology Report 2013 on 10 April, revealing that South Africa’s mobile prices are among the highest in the world.

The Global Information Technology Report 2013 features the latest results of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), offering an overview of the current state of ICT readiness in the world.

This year’s coverage includes a record number of 144 economies, accounting for over 98 percent of global GDP.

According to the report, South Africa ranks at number 117 out of 144 countries when it comes to the affordability of mobile cellular tariffs.

These high prices are likely to be related to the country’s poor Internet and telephony tariffs, where we rank 118 out of 144 economies.

How the affordability of mobile cellular tariffs was calculated

The Global Information Technology Report 2013 used the average per-minute cost of different types of mobile cellular calls (PPP $) to calculate the affordability.

This measure is constructed by first taking the average per-minute cost of a local call to another mobile cellular phone on the same network (on-net) and on another network (off-net).

This amount is then averaged with the per-minute cost of a local call to a fixed telephone line. All the tariffs are for calls placed during peak hours and based on a basic, representative mobile cellular pre-paid subscription service.

The amount is adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) and expressed in current international dollars.

The calculations were based on International Telecommunication Union, ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database 2012 (December 2012 edition); International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook (October 2012 edition); World Bank, World Development Indicators Online (accessed November 29, 2012); and national sources