Mobile Money and Telcos | |
Mobile Money and Telcos | |
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Monday,
March 09, 2020 /12:07 PM / By Broadcast Media Africa / Header Image
Credit: EcoGraphics
Vodacom and South Africa's Competition Commission have
reportedly reached a settlement agreement over data prices.
The Commission has invited reporters to a press
conference on Tuesday in Pretoria at which the details of the settlement are to
be announced.
In December, the Commission introduced strict and
radical interventions in the data services sector, including a controversial
proposal that telcos be forced to give South Africans a free amount of daily
data.
This followed the regulator's inquiry into South
Africa's data services market.
Tembinkosi Bonakele, the Competition Commissioner,
said at the time that the telcos, including Vodacom, had a timeframe of three
months to reach an agreement with the Competition Commission.
In addition to the lifeline data, the Commission said
that Vodacom and MTN must immediately reduce their data prices, with Bonakele
arguing that this could be between 30% and 50%.
Vodacom and MTN were to independently reach an
agreement with the Commission within two months, on the reduction of prices of
all 500MB 30-day prepaid data bundles to reflect the same cost on contract or
post-paid plans.
The two mobile operators were ordered to reach an
agreement with the Commission to stop practices that facilitate price
discrimination against the poor.
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