MPs seek answers to data mystery

PARLIAMENT has weighed in on the Vodacom billing debacle‚ calling for the issue of disappearing data to be investigated by an independent body.

The mobile operator drew the ire of some subscribers whose data and airtime disappeared as a result of a technical glitch.

The company apologised and has begun reimbursing those affected‚ but parliament has called for a further probe.

The billing crisis came amid growing calls for data prices‚ which remain stubbornly high‚ to be slashed.

Parliament’s portfolio committee on telecommunications and postal services said on Thursday it strongly condemned the Vodacom incident.

Vodacom is not the only mobile operator to have incurred the wrath of customers over “disappearing airtime”.

MTN promised earlier this month to change the way it accounted for data use‚ after a MyBroadband experiment showed MTN data continued to be “used” even when the mobile data option was switched off.

Dikeledi Tsotetsi‚ the acting chairwoman of the parliamentary committee‚ said SA ranked fourth out of 17 African countries with high costs of data. She said that after receiving inputs in costto-communicate public hearings last year‚ the committee had tasked the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to investigate data costs further. — DDC