MTN South Africa today announced price increases for postpaid contracts that will take effect from 1 February 2024.
In a statement, the company says the price increases come as it continues to invest in network resilience to ensure customers enjoy a "high-quality network experience, despite continued national power cuts, ongoing crime at sites and a weaker rand against the dollar".
It notes the adjustment encompasses an average increase of 4.3% on customers’ total monthly bills (which include all elements such as insurance, device fees, out-of-bundle spend, itemised billing, etc).
According to a Monetary Policy Committee statement in November, the South African Reserve Bank forecasts headline inflation of 5% in 2024, says MTN.
“In recent years, demand for data services has grown exponentially, placing greater strain on telecoms networks,” says MTN SA chief consumer officer Ernst Fonternel.
"At the same time as investing to improve our extensive network infrastructure, we have had to contend with the escalating costs of ensuring resilience during load-shedding, inflationary pressure and more instances of battery theft and site vandalism.
“The price adjustment will enable us to enhance our network resilience to ensure our customers experience improved network stability and reliability.”
The company says out-of-bundle voice rates will increase by R0.11 on average, while out-of-bundle data rates increase by R0.04 per MB.
Subscription fees will increase by an average of 8.8%. Device fees, insurance premiums and add-on voice/data bundle prices will remain unchanged.
MTN notes it has consistently applied only inflation-related increases over the years.
It explains that increments include a 4% rise in 2019, 5% in 2022 and 5.1% in 2023, with a notable hiatus in 2020 and 2021.
However, it states, faced with current economic pressures, MTN is adopting a cautious approach for 2024 to ensure it can continue to deliver a quality network experience to customers.
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