MTN to lower data cost, says Competition Commission
In terms of the agreement, MTN will reduce the price of their 1GB monthly bundle to R99.
THE Competition Commission of South Africa (CCSA) has reached an agreement with cellphone service giant, MTN after initiating a Data Services Market Inquiry (DSMI) to investigate data prices.
“The Commission found, among other things, that data prices were high in South Africa and MTN, and Vodacom, must independently reach agreement with the Commission, within two months of the publication of the report on substantial and immediate reductions on tariff levels, especially prepaid monthly bundles,” said Sipho Ngwema, Head of Communication for CCSA.
In terms of the agreement MTN will reduce the price of 30-day prepaid bundles with their 1GB bundle being reduced to R99.
MTN will endeavor to apply these price reductions across all MTN channels from 1 May.
Additionally, MTN will offer all its customers a daily free data bundle to use in Ayoba, which shall be capped at 20MB per day.
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With effect from May, MTN will also offer all its customers Zero-Rated Access to certain websites, subject to a maximum of 500 websites.
Available sites are those focusing on education, healthcare and job recruitment via MTN’s own website, which will be capped at 500MB per month per customer and be subject to the terms and conditions.
The CCSA reached a similar agreement with Vodacom on 9 March which reduced Vodacom prices from 1 April.
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