DATA MUST FALL” RULED THE COMPETITION COMMISSION
In our days Data is a basic need and data falling is inclusion a respect of a basic human right that will enable and ensure all South Africans are connected well to communicate amongst ourselves and to the world. Smart and affordable connectivity will drive economic participation.
The competition watchdog has instructed two communication giants and mobile operators in South Africa MTN and Vodacom to drop data cost in the range of 30-50% in the space of months. This is music to the data must fall campaign. The commission also ruled that mobile operators must also give or avail limited free daily data to prepaid users, to ensure that consumers have access to connectivity.
For two years the commission has been doing research getting to understand what makes our data cost so expensive. While MTN and Vodacom blames the high cost to a lack of spectrum failure of the government to issue the licence for increasing spectrum in the country and MTN having spent over 50 Billion in developing this infrastructure.
James Hodge, the chief economist for the commission, dismisses the claim by the mobile giants he said the research looked at their overall profitability, which accounts for any costs, including South Africa’s lack of spectrum, adding there was no cost explanation for the high prices. He continued to say looking at the annual financial statements for these mobile operators this includes voice and data, had consistently delivered price mark-ups of 20 percent to 25 percent, on average, over the past six years.
In 2016 EFF Fana Mokoena said South African cellular companies had infiltrated the African market successfully‚ but because of political will‚ other countries in Africa were not allowing them to abuse their people like they did South Africans.
MTN is a South African company that does business in Nigeria and Kenya. Their tariffsare cheaper in those two countries than they are in South Africa. Vodacom is a South African company with tentacles in Kenya but their tariffs are cheaper in Kenya than in South Africa.”
Mokoena said pay-as-you-go data‚ which was largely used by the poorest of the poor‚ was more expensive than contract tariffs which were subscribed to by high-end customers. “These companies clearly do not have the interests of South Africans at heart‚ especially the poor masses who could benefit greatly from the dissemination of information in health‚ education and economic matters.”
The Commission did not specify how much free data should be made available, but said it should be sufficient to ensure each citizen’s participation in the online economy and society and the objectives to meet in the process.
Such that the commission will engage experts in the field to determine the appropriate amount of daily data. The is also a need for an industry-wide tactic to zero-rating of content for the public benefit by organisations, such as non-profit as well as educational institutions.
On zero-rated content, Vodacom has an online education portal e-school which provides educational content for grades R- 12 learners and Careers for job-seekers, giving them the opportunity to look for jobs and upload CVS for free. The report has been welcomed by the Ruling Part ANC, Pule Mabe said “The citizens of our country, especially the working-class, poor, youths, students and women, are robbed of their income which they spend more than 25% on the telecommunications services, including data services. The majority of our people, due to the widening digital divide, are unable to enjoy the benefits of a digital economy, which deprives the poor of full participation in the democracy of our country. This further stifles development and growth of small businesses.”
The fall of data prises will go a long way for the embattled township entrepreneurs and start-ups, business infrastructure online and when people poor can access this on their fingertips at a more affordable price, it will be a win to the growth and development of the township economy. The drop of the price will give increased participation and such will still increase the operator’s bottom line. We as a people don’t win alone, business wins too.