MTN this week went live with its revised pricing for its sub-1GB 30-day prepaid data bundles. This follows the company’s announcement last month of its voluntary undertakings to address the Competition Commission Data Service Market Inquiry, MTN’s undertakings take the form of a voluntary social compact and addressing price reductions, a daily lifeline of free data to customers and free access to public benefit organisations.
“We are pleased to announce details of the pricing reductions as committed to last month and we continue to engage with the Commission to also finalise an agreement in the coming days,” said MTN CEO Godfrey Motsa.
MTN’s pricing in the sub-1GB 30-day data bundles had been reduced by up to 50%, the company said in a media release.
“From as little as R10 these new price bundles are designed for all wallet sizes,” Motsa said.
MTN’s immediate price reductions:
The monthly sub-1Gigabyte category sees significant price reductions today, while the monthly 20MB and 50MB bundles double in volume – from 20MB to 40MB and from 50MB to 100MB – without any change in price. Prices stay at R10 and R20 respectively, but for double the data.
Users of the popular 1GB bundle will enjoy a 34% price reduction, from R149, to just R99, while 1.5GB users can now stay in touch for R149, a drop of 21%. Users in the larger 50GB and 100GB ranges will also see significant savings, with prices dipping 25% and 29% respectively.
The new prices and volumes are detailed below:
| Bundle Description | Current Volume (MB) | Current Rate | New Volume | New Rate |
| Monthly – 20MB | 20 | R10 | 40 | R10 |
| Monthly – 50MB | 50 | R20 | 100 | R20 |
| Monthly – 100MB | 100 | R29 | 150 | R29 |
| Monthly – 150MB | 150 | R39 | 200 | R39 |
| Monthly – 300MB | 300 | R60 | 350 | R60 |
| Monthly – 500MB | N/A | N/A | 500 | R75 |
| Monthly – 600MB | 600 | R99 | N/A | N/A |
| Monthly – 750MB | 750 | R120 | 750 | R89 |
| Monthly – 1GB | 1024 | R149 | 1024 | R99 |
| Monthly – 1.5GB | 1524 | R189 | 1536 | R149 |
| Monthly – 2GB | N/A | N/A | 2048 | R189 |
| Monthly – 3GB | 3072 | R299 | 3072 | R229 |
| Monthly – 6GB | 6144 | R399 | 6144 | R399 |
| Monthly – 10GB | 10240 | R499 | 10240 | R469 |
| Monthly – 20GB | 20480 | R899 | 20480 | R699 |
| Monthly – 30GB | 30720 | R1 249 | 30720 | R999 |
| Monthly – 50GB | 51200 | R1 999 | 51200 | R1 499 |
| Monthly – 100GB | 102400 | R3 499 | 102400 | R2 499 |
20MB free Daily Lifeline immediately available to MTN customers
Another significant move to enhance digital inclusion countrywide is the launch of the 20MB daily data lifeline. The 20MB ayoba Daily Lifeline will ensure MTN customers are able to communicate with friends and family, every day, even when they are out of airtime. This is the equivalent of 600MB of free data per month, every month.
“This free data is already available for use on ayoba, an instant messaging app and can be used for text, video, audio and image sending and receiving – as well as for keeping up to date on the outside world via ayoba news and entertainment channels. As the lockdown continues, this will ensure more people can stay in touch with loved ones every day and connected to the latest news on the status of the lockdown,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan, Executive for Corporate Affairs: MTN SA.
The rollout of free ayoba data was launched in March, forming part of efforts to ease the burden on South Africans during the current lockdown period. This move builds on the zero-rated USSD line (*130*119#) for reporting infections and for other critical information. There are also two live zero-rated Ayoba COVID-19 channels sharing updated news and information.
In May, the offer will extend to include free browsing of general websites to allow MTN customers who are also ayoba customers to browse the internet on websites of their choice, between midnight and 5am.
MTN has, in the past three weeks, made significant progress in fast tracking its zero-rating of Public Benefit Organisations. The impact of the COVID-19 virus on communities across South Africa has required an urgent prioritising of zero-rated services in the health and education sectors.
MTN’s progress on COVID-19 zero-rating
MTN is grateful to the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies (DCDT) for its support in creating a Project Management Office (PMO) for the urgent zero-rating of public benefit organisations to assist in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The PMO is ensuring coordination with the mobile operators and the Departments of Basic Education, Health, Higher Education and Training, Social Development, as well as the Government Communication and Information Service and the Internet Service Providers Association.
A workflow has been established and operators are able to refer requests for zero-rating to the PMO to assist with screening and vetting. The objective is to ensure the zero-rating covers as many affected parties as possible and that the educational content being zero-rated is approved by the relevant educational departments.
Access to the e-learning platform of the Siyavula Foundation, is already zero-rated for all MTN customers, which means the website can be used with no data costs being incurred.
In addition to this, the MTN Foundation has sponsored all of South Africa’s Grade 10, 11 and 12 students, with an amount of R3 million, to have full access to the mathematics, CAT and IT and Physical Sciences, learning materials, including practise sheets and exam preparation content. This can be accessed using the Siyavula website (www.siyavula.com) and via the Siyavula app (available in the Google Store).
The MTN Foundation’s sponsorship has also given South Africa’s Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners access to Siyavula’s adaptive mathematics learning software available on the same zero-rated website and app.
