{"id":108016,"date":"2014-08-13T10:08:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T08:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=108016"},"modified":"2014-08-13T10:18:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T08:18:35","slug":"massive-data-price-hikes-on-mtn-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/108016-massive-data-price-hikes-on-mtn-contracts.html","title":{"rendered":"Massive data price hikes on MTN contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MTN has significantly increased the price of the 300MB, 500MB, 1GB, and 2GB data add-on bundles for its MyChoice contracts.<\/p>\n<p>Prices were hiked by between 66% and 104% on 1 August 2014, the same day the network introduced its new data bundles and \u201cdata giveback\u201d rewards.<\/p>\n<p>While this does mean that MTN\u2019s data bundle pricing structure has been simplified (contract, top-up, and pre-paid users now all use the same bundles), it will translate to a price increase for many MTN MyChoice users.<\/p>\n<p>The changes are summarised in the table below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\" style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%;\" border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"background-color: #002440; font-weight: bold; color: #fff;\">\n<td>MTN Data bundle<\/td>\n<td>Old MyChoice price<\/td>\n<td>New price<\/td>\n<td>Change<\/td>\n<td>New Giveback bundle<\/td>\n<td>Giveback Bundle Validity Period<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5MB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R3<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>2.5MB<\/td>\n<td>Same Day (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20MB<\/td>\n<td>R10<\/td>\n<td>R10<\/td>\n<td><strong>+0%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>10MB<\/td>\n<td>Same Day (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50MB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R19<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>25MB<\/td>\n<td>3 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>100MB<\/td>\n<td>R30<\/td>\n<td>R29<\/td>\n<td><strong>-3%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>50MB<\/td>\n<td>3 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>300MB<\/td>\n<td>R40<\/td>\n<td>R79<\/td>\n<td><strong>+98%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>150MB<\/td>\n<td>5 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>500MB<\/td>\n<td>R50<\/td>\n<td>R99<\/td>\n<td><strong>+98%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>250MB<\/td>\n<td>5 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1GB<\/td>\n<td>R90<\/td>\n<td>R149<\/td>\n<td><strong>+66%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>1GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2GB<\/td>\n<td>R120<\/td>\n<td>R245<\/td>\n<td><strong>+104%<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>2GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3GB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R299<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>3GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5GB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R399<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>5GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10GB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R599<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>5GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20GB<\/td>\n<td>N\/A<\/td>\n<td>R1,199<\/td>\n<td>New<\/td>\n<td>10GB<\/td>\n<td>30 Days (expiry at 23h59)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<p>A number of MTN contract subscribers have expressed unhappiness with the changes, arguing it is not right that they have to face an increase in data prices with no way to back out of their contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMTN has increased some prices of data bundles for My MTNChoice customers as well as decreased certain prices,\u201d a spokesperson for the network said when asked about the changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis affects new customers and customers who buy once-off monthly data bundles. Customers have been notified of this change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked exactly how customers will be affected, MTN broke it down as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Package inclusive deal<\/strong> \u2013 no impact, subscription remains the same<\/li>\n<li><strong>Package inclusive deal, purchasing ad-hoc after 1 August<\/strong> \u2013 new price on ad-hoc purchase<\/li>\n<li><strong>Package inclusive deal on a recurring bundle<\/strong> &#8211; no impact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MTN also highlighted that customers will receive up to 100% of the data in the bundle as a \u201cfree giveback\u201d. The amount of free data and its period of validity is shown above.<\/p>\n<p>However, a quick comparison of the previous prices and the new prices shows that the \u201cfree giveback\u201d promotion doesn\u2019t fully compensate for the price hikes.<\/p>\n<p>Where MyChoice subscribers were previously able to buy 2GB of data that would roll over to their next billing cycle for R120, it will now cost them R149 and the \u201cfree\u201d 1GB expires after 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>Queried about why it made the changes, MTN said it was done to align their pricing to what is in the market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMTN offers the best out-of-bundle rates in the market, as well as data carry-over,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"related\">Related cellular news<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/107344-new-mtn-internet-bundles-launched.html\"><strong>New MTN internet bundles launched<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/88389-mtn-contract-builder-launched.html\"><strong>MTN contract builder launched<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/107928-mtn-lte-now-on-pre-paid.html\"><strong>MTN LTE now on pre-paid<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/107498-mtn-given-clear-competitive-benefit-cell-c.html\"><strong>MTN given clear competitive benefit: Cell C<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/107022-what-vodacom-customers-really-pay-for-calls.html\"><strong>What Vodacom customers really pay for calls<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some MyChoice subscribers may pay up to 104% more for mobile data on their contracts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":75893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[35,42,21711,12941],"class_list":["post-108016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-my-mtnchoice","tag-price-increase"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108018,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108016\/revisions\/108018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}