{"id":453142,"date":"2022-07-20T09:41:58","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T07:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=453142"},"modified":"2022-07-20T09:44:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T07:44:25","slug":"how-much-data-vodacom-and-mtn-subscribers-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/453142-how-much-data-vodacom-and-mtn-subscribers-use.html","title":{"rendered":"How much data Vodacom and MTN subscribers use"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African residents’ average mobile data usage has increased significantly over the past five years, with Vodacom reporting an increase of 206% since the 2017\/18 financial year (FY).<\/p>\n

MTN only reported data usage figures in its 2019\/20, 2020\/21, and 2021\/22 annual reports, but its data shows a 128% increase in average data usage per user per month.<\/p>\n

Vodacom’s average data use per smartphone per month on its network sat at 784MB a month for the 2017\/18 FY and increased to 2.4GB per smartphone per month as of 31 March 2022.<\/p>\n

The mobile network operator’s most significant monthly data usage increase per customer was observed during the 2019\/20 FY, where usage increased by 56% from 966MB to 1.5GB.<\/p>\n

While the average monthly data usage per customer has continued to increase, the rate appears to be slowing, with Vodacom reporting an increase of 39% and 14% during the 2020\/21 and 2021\/22 FYs, respectively.<\/p>\n

Based on its reports, MTN’s customers use a fair deal more data than Vodacom’s do on average.<\/p>\n

The mobile operator reported an average monthly data usage figure of 1.9GB per user during the 2018\/19 financial year. It increased by 46% to 2.8GB per user per month the following year.<\/p>\n

The most significant increase in average monthly data usage per customer on MTN’s network was observed during the 2020\/21 FY, when it increased by 60% to 4.4GB.<\/p>\n

Data usage on MTN’s network also saw a significant increase of 53% during the 2021\/22 FY. According to the mobile operator’s report, the average data usage per customer per month during the year was 6.4GB.<\/p>\n

The chart below depicts the increase in mobile data usage per customer on MTN’s and Vodacom’s networks over the past five years. MTN did not report a figure for the 2017\/18 FY.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The growth in mobile data usage per customer is likely due to declining prices over the last five years.<\/p>\n

Vodacom announced that it was dropping prepaid data prices by up to 14%<\/a><\/strong> in April 2021, saying that the decision was in line with its “commitment to reduce the cost to communicate and connect more people to the digital economy”.<\/p>\n

MTN cut its prepaid data prices<\/a><\/strong> around a month later.<\/p>\n

Lower entry points to access the Internet are critical in the modern age, allowing even low-income households a means of connectivity. The recently-concluded spectrum auction could help to reduce prices further.<\/p>\n

The Independent Communication Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) long-awaited spectrum auction concluded in March 2022<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Before that, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South African residents could expect reduced mobile data prices and improved cellular network quality<\/a><\/strong> due to\u00a0the auction.<\/p>\n

However, Rain’s CEO Brandon Leigh explained that prices are unlikely to fall soon<\/a><\/strong> as mobile network operators will have to invest heavily in expanding their networks.<\/p>\n

Leigh said it would be a while before the industry realises price decreases.<\/p>\n

MyBroadband spoke to Vodacom and MTN about what they expect from their newly-acquired spectrum<\/a><\/strong>, of which Vodacom got 110MHz in the 700MHz, 2,600MHz, and 3,500MHz bands.<\/p>\n

MTN acquired 100Mhz in the 800MHz, 2,600MHz, and 3,500MHz bands.<\/p>\n

Vodacom said its new spectrum would allow it to provide better speeds in addition to new product and pricing options.<\/p>\n

However, MTN’s executive for corporate affairs, Jacqui O’Sullivan, explained that the radio frequencies the mobile operator acquired are in the same bands as its temporary spectrum.<\/p>\n

As a result, MTN doesn’t expect any impact on its network performance.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read: Uncapped mobile data prices in South Africa compared<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MTN and Vodacom have reported significant increases in average mobile data use on their networks over the past five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":453166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[35,18090,74214,42,251,41],"class_list":["post-453142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-mobile-data-traffic","tag-mtn","tag-radio-frequency-spectrum","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453142"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":453210,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453142\/revisions\/453210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}