Microsoft Office South African price increase postponed
Microsoft has informed its Office subscribers that its planned price increase, which was set to kick in on 19 February 2020, has been postponed until 26 March 2020.
The annual subscription fee for Office 365 Personal will be increased from R899 to R999. It will also be available at a monthly rate of R99.
Additionally, the annual subscription fee for Office 365 Home will increase from R1,199 to R1,399, or R139 per month.
Users will be charged the new subscription prices unless they choose to cancel their subscription before the next scheduled payment after 26 March 2020.
Microsoft explained that the Office price increases in South Africa are needed to address changing market conditions.
The Microsoft Office 365 price changes are detailed in the table below.
| Package | Old Price | New Price |
|---|---|---|
| Office 365 Home | R1,199 | R1,399 |
| Office 365 Personal | R899 | R999 |
Free Microsoft Office
The good news is that any South African between the age of 8 and 24 can get the Microsoft Office 365 suite and 5TB OneDrive cloud-based storage free of charge through the Mahala.ms portal.
The Mahala.ms portal is a partnership between Microsoft South Africa, Penquin, Lava Lamp Lab, and NBConsult that was first launched in May 2017.
The objective of the service is to enable learners from grade R to 12 to become more productive and better prepared for the next phase of their academic careers or the workplace.
Through the Mahala.ms service, users can activate free Microsoft licenses for all their devices, including their PC, Mac, mobile phone, or tablet.
The free Microsoft Office 365 suite includes Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Excel as well as free OneDrive online storage.
Microsoft South Africa’s Lionel Moyal said the Mahala.ms portal holds the potential to change the fortunes of millions of young South Africans by giving them access to Office 365.
Now read: Big Microsoft Office price increases in South Africa
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