The Competition Commission in Pretoria is holding an inquiry into data services in South Africa.
South Africa’s cheapest price for 1 gigabyte of data is about seven times higher than the cheapest price in Africa, which is Egypt at just over 1 US dollars for 1 gigabyte.
Doctor Onkokame Mothobi of Research ICT Africa, says the rand dollar exchange rate, input costs like electricity and high demand are the cost drivers.
He says MTN and Vodacom dominate the market in South Africa, although Telkom is much cheaper. Mothabi says only about 50% of South Africans can afford data.
“Our survey shows that the cost of communications and especially, data is taking a significant amount of low income earners and in most cases it is unaffordable for people on the lower piramid. Our survey shows of the 53% of the 47% that are not connected are from lower income brackets.”
