{"id":238614,"date":"2017-11-28T10:57:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T08:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=238614"},"modified":"2017-11-28T10:58:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T08:58:57","slug":"mobile-data-which-lasts-3-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/238614-mobile-data-which-lasts-3-years.html","title":{"rendered":"Mobile data which lasts 3 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ICASA recently published its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icasa.org.za\/AboutUs\/ICASANews\/tabid\/630\/post\/icasa-moves-with-emphasis-on-the-reduction-of-cost-of-communication-to-reach-acceptable-levels-for-the-benefit-of\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>plan to bring down<\/strong><\/a> the cost of communication in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>One of the critical short-term interventions is the review of the consumer protection regulations known as the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter (EUSSC).<\/p>\n<p>The review was necessitated by concerns regarding data expiry rules and high out-of-bundle rates, said ICASA.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator proposed various interventions, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All licensees are required to provide prepaid data bundles with a minimum expiry period of 3 years.<\/li>\n<li>Licensees are required to send usage notifications for data depletion to users &#8211; the intervals must show 50%, 75%, 90%, and 100% depletion.<\/li>\n<li>Rollover of unused minutes and data.<\/li>\n<li>Users must be given an option to opt-in or opt-out of being charged out-of-bundle data rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">What mobile operators say<\/h3>\n<p>These interventions may looks good on paper, but they can have a significant impact on mobile operators &#8211; especially as it relates to expiring data.<\/p>\n<p>Vodacom told MyBroadband that it welcomes all efforts and policy interventions aimed at reducing the cost to communicate in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cICASA\u2019s proposed data regulation includes sound recommendations, which we will seek to implement in due course,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>There were concerns, however, regarding the proposal to extend data expiry on prepaid bundles to 3 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis will significantly limit customer choice and it is our belief that an environment should exist where network operators are able to compete by giving customers more options,\u201d said Vodacom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor example, enforcing a 3-year expiry period for prepaid data bundles will eliminate our hugely-popular daily and weekly offers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf the more than 2 billion bundles that our customers will use this year, the majority are smaller and micro-bundles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vodacom believes that deeper analysis of customer behaviour is necessary before making a final decision.<\/p>\n<p>MTN told MyBroadband it has taken note of the ICASA proposal regarding the EUSSC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are currently reviewing the content of the proposed amendment and the possible consequences thereof. It would be inappropriate to comment at this time, pending the finalisation of that review,&#8221; said MTN.<\/p>\n<p>Telkom and Cell C did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business-telecoms\/237246-vodacom-makes-more-money-from-data-than-voice.html\">Vodacom makes more money from data than voice<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ICASA wants all mobile operators to provide prepaid data bundles which last 3 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":129952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[355,35,42,109,41],"class_list":["post-238614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238614"}],"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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239920,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238614\/revisions\/239920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}