{"id":79861,"date":"2013-06-10T12:11:12","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T10:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=79861"},"modified":"2013-06-10T12:31:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T10:31:07","slug":"give-us-free-airtime-data-sms-right2know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/79861-give-us-free-airtime-data-sms-right2know.html","title":{"rendered":"Give us free airtime, data, SMS: Right2Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Right2Know\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/536853-Right2Know\">Right2Know<\/a>, the organisation behind the campaign against the Protection of State Information Bill (also known as the \u201cSecrecy Bill\u201d), has announced plans to march on <a title=\"Vodacom\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/227063-Vodacom\">Vodacom<\/a>, <a title=\"MTN\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/226943-MTN\">MTN<\/a>, and <a title=\"ICASA\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/vb\/showthread.php\/226385-ICASA\">ICASA<\/a> to demand a \u201cfree basic amount of airtime and data\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The march is scheduled for 09:00 on Wednesday, 12 June 2013, starting opposite the Cape Town International Convention Centre.<\/p>\n<p>According to Right2Know, it will hand memorandums to Vodacom, MTN, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn estimated 82.9% of people living in SA have a cell phone that can enable them to access information, enjoy freedom of expression \u2013 and organise for social justice as active citizens,\u201d Right 2 Know said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYet the high cost of airtime and data undermines the democratising potential of the mobile network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, the Right2Know said it is launching a campaign to challenge the profiteering of mobile network operators and government\u2019s failure to effectively regulate the cost of communication.<\/p>\n<p>Right2Know listed the following demands on its website:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Communications must be universal. Everyone has a right to communications that are available and affordable;<\/li>\n<li>Everyone should get a free basic amount of airtime and data the same way that we have free basic water and electricity;<\/li>\n<li>All SMS\u2019s should be free as they cost the operators almost nothing to transmit;<\/li>\n<li>ICASA must regulate the cost of airtime and data to stop profiteering;<\/li>\n<li>Pre-paid communication users should not cross subsidise post-paid users;<\/li>\n<li>SMS and data bundles should not expire if they are unused;<\/li>\n<li>Cellphone companies must improve the quality of service, including network outages, dropped calls, calls that don\u2019t connect, and data coverage, etc;<\/li>\n<li>The range of numbers that are free to call (like police and ambulance) should be increased to include our children\u2019s schools, hospitals, etc;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 id=\"related\">More on cellular prices in South Africa<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/79845-new-mtn-3gb-5gb-10gb-data-packages-launched.html\"><strong>New MTN 3GB, 5GB, 10GB data packages launched<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/79851-mtn-lte-free-after-all.html\"><strong>MTN LTE free after all<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/79735-telkom-40mbps-vdsl-vs-neobroadband-40mbps-fibre.html\"><strong>Telkom 40Mbps VDSL vs NeoBroadband 40Mbps fibre<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/78342-broadband-in-every-home-from-vodacom.html\"><strong>Broadband in every home from Vodacom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/79801-virgin-mobile-ceo-slates-vodacom-mtn-in-report.html\"><strong>Virgin Mobile CEO slates Vodacom, MTN in report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/79741-cheap-40mbps-home-fibre-broadband-deal-details.html\"><strong>Cheap 40Mbps home fibre broadband deal details<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/79729-local-loop-unbundling-gets-new-deadline.html\"><strong>Local loop unbundling gets new deadline<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Right2Know is organising a march to demand &#8220;free basic and affordable airtime and data&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":79863,"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":[3],"tags":[35,18090,42,10876,19841,41],"class_list":["post-79861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-mtn","tag-parliamentary-portfolio-committee-on-communications","tag-right2know","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79861"}],"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=79861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79865,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79861\/revisions\/79865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}