Vodacom cuts prepaid data costs

Yesterday, Vodacom announced up to 42% cuts in data prices for prepaid customers. The new pricing will become effective from 19 September.

The announcement follows similar data price reductions made for contract and business customers this month.

Some data bundles are no longer available, but the comparable replacement bundles offer reduced in-bundle rates. For example, MyMeg 110, at R88, is replaced by MyMeg 100, at R49, with the effective in-bundle rate reducing from 80c to 49c per MB. MyMeg 175, previously available at a price of 68c per MB, will now be replaced by 40c per MB in the MyMeg 250 bundle - a saving of 42% per MB.

According to Vodacom, the average MB rate saving across all packages from MyMeg 10 to MyGig 1.5 is more than 22%.

The service provider says it will also run a “double your prepaid data” promotion from 19 September to 31 October 2011.

“The promotion will give customers double data for the same price when they buy bigger bundles, which include MyGig 1, MyGig 1.5, MyGig 2 and MyGig 2.5 prepaid and Top Up once-off bundles during the promotional period,” says Vodacom.

Vodacom's chief commercial officer, Romeo Kumalo, says: "Internet access isn't just a nice-to-have; it's an essential part of modern life. With these data price reductions, more customers than ever before will be able to benefit from Internet connectivity."

Prepaid customers can also use Vodacom's data bundle transfer service, which allows for once-off data bundles to be transferred to family or friends on Vodacom prepaid or Top Up packages.

“Prepaid customers can also enjoy a recurring prepaid data bundle. The customer only has to opt-in once and ensure that there is sufficient airtime in his or her prepaid wallet,” says Vodacom, adding that these services can be accessed by dialling *111# and going to the “MyAccount” portal.

Responding to the need for aggressively priced prepaid data, 8ta also recently introduced new lower broadband rates for prepaid users. The limited 3GB data bundle offer is available for R149.

It consists of 2GB anytime data and 1GB Midnight Surfer data for use between 12am and 5am. According to the operator, in the promotional offer, users will basically be paying 5c per MB.

This follows the operator's launch of a limited offer in June, which saw subscribers getting 10GB per month for R199 on a post-paid contract.

Caroline Macharia, data portfolio manager at 8ta, says the latest offering arose after several queries by customers about a lower-end offering for prepaid.

“There's a certain section of the market that doesn't want a contract and doesn't want to pay a large upfront sum.”