Vodacom to slash data prices by at least 30%, clients to get free access to some websites

JOHANNESBURG - All Vodacom customers are set to pay at least 30 percent less for their data bundles, as the mobile operator has agreed to slash its prices and provide free internet access to the poor, as demanded by the Competition Commission in December.

The mobile operator’s CEO Shameel Joosub said the company will sacrifice R2.7 billion a year as part of the agreement. From April 1, a one gigabyte of Vodacom data will cost no more than R99, compared to the current R149, translating to a 34 percent price decrease.

The company will further decrease its bundle prices in April next year, which will mean more than a 40 percent price reduction, said the minister of trade and industry, Ebrahim Patel.

Tembinkosi Bonakele, Commissioner of the SA Competition Commission, said talks were underway with all the other mobile operators, and that negotiations were in at “quite advanced” stages with some. Bonakele expects to conclude new price deals with other operators “sooner (rather) than later.”

Vodacom will also, from next month, zero-rate a number of websites. This means that its subscribers won’t have to use their internet bundles to access university portals, Wikipedia, and certain government e-service portals and departmental websites, like those of the department of home affairs and school enrolment platforms.

Job seekers will also have free access to seven approved job portals. Vodacom’s Facebook Flex, which allows subscribers to access a “data light” version of the social platform on their phones for free, will also be extended to all subscribers.

The programme, which was criticised for being both chaotic and violent, resulted in numerous deaths in the course of