Business Maverick: Competition watchdog names and shames MTN, Vodacom for high data prices

  • 📰 dailymaverick
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 43 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 20%
  • Publisher: 84%

United Kingdom News News

United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News,United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines

Business Maverick: Competition watchdog names and shames MTN, Vodacom for high data prices By Ray Mahlaka

Mobile pre-paid data in South Africa is expensive, compared with most sub-Saharan Africa countries, the Competition Commission has unsurprisingly found. Data prices that are charged in the country by telecommunications titans, Vodacom and MTN, are higher than those they charge in markets outside of South Africa.

He says MTN and Vodacom, which are early pioneers in the telecommunications industry because they were founded in 1994, have become so big that they cannot even be challenged by smaller competitors Cell C and Telkom. The same trend emerges for MTN. For a 1GB, MTN charged its South Africa-based customers $11.95 in 2017, while it levied a cost of $8.34 in Uganda for the same bundle, Ghana , Ivory Coast , Nigeria and Rwanda .

“Much has changed in the mobile data pricing sector in the past 18 months. One such significant change was MTN’s decision in February of this year to cut its out-of-bundle data rate by up to 75% for pre-paid customers,” says O’Sullivan. It’s the poor that are hit hard by high data prices. “Lower income consumers may be exploited to a far greater degree relative to wealthier consumers,” says Bonakele.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in UK
 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Business Maverick: Asian shares up after Nasdaq, S&P 500 hit record highsEquity markets in Asia rose on Wednesday morning after upbeat earnings helped the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes reach record closing highs on Wall Street overnight, while oil retreated from its near six-month highs.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Wednesday April 24: Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your DayTwitter helps stocks fly to a record high, Netflix returns to the junk bond market and Islamic State claims responsibility for the deadly attacks in Sri Lanka. Here are some of this morning’s key stories.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK ANALYSIS: Central banks’ musical chairs put independence up for grabsA changing of the guards at central banks around the world at a time when the value of both political and operational central bank independence is up for debate could yield some surprises. History shows these can be pretty dramatic as tensions run high between presidents and bank governors.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Pinterest Tops Targeted IPO Range to Raise $1.4 BillionPinterest Inc. raised about $1.4 billion in its initial public offering, pricing its shares above a targeted range as the year’s tech unicorn stampede gains momentum.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Kraft Heinz’s Problems Run Deeper Than Its CEOKraft Heinz Co.’s problems stem not from a single manager but rather an ethos brought to the company by its private equity owner, 3G Capital, and championed by billionaire Warren Buffett. And so it remains to be seen whether replacing the packaged-food giant’s CEO is enough to right the ship, writes Tara Lachapelle for Bloomberg Opinion
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Reported Fires Threaten China’s Electric-Car QuestIn China, where the quality and safety of electric vehicles and their batteries have been increasingly called into question, electric cars bursting into flames have underscored longstanding issues with China's electric-vehicle push, writes Adam Minter for Bloomberg Opinion.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »