The African National Congress (ANC) has urged the relevant government stakeholders to act with speed to ensure the regulator implements the findings and recommendations on mobile data pricing.
The Competition Commission (CompCom) this week presented the final report of its data services market inquiry, which found MTN and Vodacom’s mobile data prices are exorbitant compared to their local counterparts.
The CompCom recommended the two telcos reduce data prices by up to a half or face prosecution.
In a statement, the ANC welcomes the competition watchdog’s findings, saying: “The current steep prices of data have a negative impact not only on the growth of the ICT sector, but the various sectors of the economy, including the financial services sector.
“The citizens of our country, especially the working class poor, youth, students and women, are robbed of their income, of which they spend more than 25% on telecommunications services, including data services. The majority of our people, due to the widening digital divide, are unable to enjoy the benefits of a digital economy, which deprives the poor of full participation in the democracy of our country. This further stifles development and growth of small business.”
#DataMustFall movement
South Africa’s furore around #DataMustFall reached fever pitch in 2016, with citizens taking to social media to complain about high mobile data costs.
This led to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) in July 2017 announcing its intention to conduct an inquiry to determine the priority markets in the electronic communications sector, followed by the publication of the discussion document last year.
In June 2018, the regulator announced plans to hold public hearings on the cost to communicate in SA. It said this was part two of the cost to communicate programme, including the reduction of data prices in SA.
The CompCom joined the list of local authorities to probe the high price of data services in SA by initiating its own inquiry in August 2017.
In the statement, the ANC indicates it supported the #DataMustFall campaign through submissions to the inquiry, as well as delivering a presentation to the public hearings hosted by the CompCom.
“Access to data in the 21st century is important because it facilitates the realisation of many rights enshrined in our Bill of Rights, as well as enhancing economic participation and the strengthening of our democracy,” says the governing party.
The ANC isn’t the only political party to back the recent findings on data prices, with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) calling on all mobile operators to comply and reduce the prices as recommended by the CompCom.
The Julius Malema-led party says it has long been in engagements with ICASA to “have them order mobile operators to lower their tariffs because South Africa has the most sophisticated machinery and resources in the ICT sector.
“The reduction of data tariffs would never have the poor masses benefit greatly from information dissemination on health, education and economic matters.
“The private sector must see themselves as the drivers of socio-economic growth,” reads the EFF statement.
Blame game
While the CompCom has blamed MTN and Vodacom for the high data costs, both mobile operators fault the regulator.
Yesterday, MTN issued a SENS statement saying it “respectfully disagrees" with the recommendations made by the CompCom.
It says it has noted the release of the summary report, pointing out that the detailed report is yet to be released.
“We are currently studying the summary report and will not be able to comment in more detail until we have seen the full document. We are also reviewing the ICASA [Independent Communications Authority of SA] discussion document released last Friday.
“We reiterate comments made earlier in the year that MTN South Africa has substantially reduced the effective price of data in South Africa, having also invested heavily in the network to accommodate growing data demand with limited spectrum availability.”
Telcos and industry commentators have asserted that continuous delays in allocating spectrum have played a significant role in the high cost of data.
According to the ANC, operators must allow government to resolve the allocation of new spectrum.
“The release of spectrum, which the ANC supports, will resolve the network capacity constraints experienced by the mobile network operators and accelerate the rollout of broadband networks in rural areas, particularly the wholesale wireless open access network earmarked in the policy on high-demand spectrum released in July last year.”
However, the EFF is less hopeful that a spectrum auction will lead to development of competition.
“As things stand, the telecommunications industry suffers from a duopoly wherein Vodacom and MTN constitute over 70% of the market. Auctioning spectrum means it goes to the highest bidder and only those with big financial muscle will get it,” concludes the EFF statement.
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