Here are all Vodacom’s new slashed prices for data

Vodacom has cut data prices by up to 40 per cent and will provide free data to access essential services through Vodacom’s zero-rated platform ConnectU with immediate effect at a cost of about R2.7 billion to the company over the next year.

According to a statement issued by the network provider, their various 30-day data bundle prices will be cut across all of its channels by up to 40 per cent.

“Vodacom can play a critical role in supporting society during this challenging time and we’re committed to doing whatever we can to help customers stay connected,” said chief officer of Vodacom’s consumer business unit Jorge Mendes.

“Since we started our pricing transformation strategy three years ago, our customers have benefited from significant reductions in data prices and the cost of voice calls. Over the same period, we invested over R26 billion in infrastructure and new technologies, so our customers enjoy wider 2G, 3G and 4G coverage and vastly increased data speeds.”

According to Vodacom, the latest data reductions will complement the discounted bundle offers that will also be made available to prepaid customers in more than 2,000 less affluent suburbs and villages around the country.

For qualifying communities to access further discounted voice and data deals, they need to simply click on the scrolling ConnectU banner on the platform via connectu.vodacom.co.za.

ConnectU – which is a zero-rated platform – also goes live today.

It will provide content aimed at social development and offers a variety of essential services for free. Learners and students enrolled in schools and universities can access relevant information for free, with no data costs.

The ConnectU portal includes a search engine linked to open sources such as Wikipedia and Wiktionary as well as free access to job portals; free educational content on the e-School platform; free health and wellness information and free access to Facebook Flex, the low data alternative to Facebook that enables customers to stay socially connected.

Vodacom’s popular Just4You platform has been a significant contributor to the approximately 50 per cent reduction in effective data prices over the past two years. Substantial cuts in out-of-bundle tariffs and the introduction of hourly, daily and weekly bundles with much lower effective prices have also driven increased value and affordability, resulting in R2 billion in savings for customers in 2019.

This latest announcement is part of Vodacom’s social contract with the public, and has been extensively discussed and agreed with the Competition Commission.

“Today’s price cuts and free access to ConnectU will also assist South Africans during the national state of disaster while at the same time helping to drive greater digital inclusion,” concluded Mendes.

The Competition Commission earlier this year recommended that Vodacom reduce its monthly data prices by at least 30% from April.

The competition watchdog had given telecommunication companies three months to implement their recommendations.

After investigating the cost of data in the country the commission earlier found MTN and Vodacom to have had high data costs. In a report, the commission recommended that they reduce their mobile data prices by as much as half or face prosecution for exorbitant pricing.

The commission and Vodacom reached an agreement on a 30% price reduction from April 1.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub noted the network would not fight the commission but instead constructively tackle the issue raised by the Competition Commission in the report on prices.

The network agreed to a two-year reduction on monthly data bundles across the board.

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