Vodacom South Africa Reaches Deal With Competition Watchdog

Vodacom South Africa and the Competition Commission of South Africa have reached a settlement over data prices, reports TechCentral. The commission is expected to release details of the settlement on 10 March. A Vodacom spokesman declined to comment before that announcement. In December, the Commission released broad-ranging, tough, and radical interventions in the data services market, including a proposal that mobile operators be forced to provide a free allocation of daily data. 

This followed the regulator’s inquiry into the data services market in South Africa. Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said at the time that operators including Vodacom had three months to reach an agreement with the commission. Beyond the lifeline data, the Commission stated Vodacom and MTN must immediately reduce prices, which Bonakele said could be between 30% and 50%.
It also stated Vodacom and MTN should agree with the Commission to cease practices that might facilitate price discrimination against the poor. It said all mobile operators must reach an agreement with it within three months on a consistent, industry-wide approach to zero-rating content for public benefit organisations and similar entities. They were also told to inform each subscriber on a monthly basis on the effective price of all the data they the customer had used.