South Africans in the lower income groups spend about 20% of their income on relatively small amounts of data, said data analysing company Tarrific.
According to a report by the company, South Africa has the second highest data contract prices in a group of countries of a similar income range, coming second only to Brazil.
The report studied data prices in the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as well as Kenya and Australia.
Tarrific’s chief executive Antony Seeff said he agreed with the #DataMustFall campaign launched by Thabo “Tbo Touch” Molefe, the owner of online radio station Touch Central.
Molefe has launched a war on data prices, calling the country’s data costs “daylight robbery”.
Seeff said: “Data has become a necessity in South Africa and is used for education, social services and communication. We have seen that data prices in South Africa are more expensive than five other comparable countries in our study, and we implore mobile network operators, Icasa, and even the government to do whatever they can to ensure data prices fall.
“Should data prices fall, companies and individuals would be able to save on cellphone bills.”
The study factored in the cost of living in the countries of study.
In the statement Tarrific said “all figures were rebased against the Cost of Living index”.
Tarrific’s analysis shows that once prices were converted to rands and re-based for the Cost of Living, South Africa was consistently the second most expensive for 1GB, 2GB, and 3GB data contracts, with Brazil being the most expensive.
“Data prices for South Africa were on average 134% more expensive than the cheapest prices in the group.”
The report showed that 1GB, 2GB and 3GB data packages cost R82, R85 and R69 respectively in Kenya whereas in Russia they are R39, R54 and R38.
South Africa’s average is R77, R112 and R184 for the same packages. — silusaphon@dispatch.co.za
Little data costing us a lot
According to a report by the company, South Africa has the second highest data contract prices in a group of countries of a similar income range, coming second only to Brazil.
The report studied data prices in the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as well as Kenya and Australia.
Tarrific’s chief executive Antony Seeff said he agreed with the #DataMustFall campaign launched by Thabo “Tbo Touch” Molefe, the owner of online radio station Touch Central.
Molefe has launched a war on data prices, calling the country’s data costs “daylight robbery”.
Seeff said: “Data has become a necessity in South Africa and is used for education, social services and communication. We have seen that data prices in South Africa are more expensive than five other comparable countries in our study, and we implore mobile network operators, Icasa, and even the government to do whatever they can to ensure data prices fall.
“Should data prices fall, companies and individuals would be able to save on cellphone bills.”
The study factored in the cost of living in the countries of study.
In the statement Tarrific said “all figures were rebased against the Cost of Living index”.
Tarrific’s analysis shows that once prices were converted to rands and re-based for the Cost of Living, South Africa was consistently the second most expensive for 1GB, 2GB, and 3GB data contracts, with Brazil being the most expensive.
“Data prices for South Africa were on average 134% more expensive than the cheapest prices in the group.”
The report showed that 1GB, 2GB and 3GB data packages cost R82, R85 and R69 respectively in Kenya whereas in Russia they are R39, R54 and R38.
South Africa’s average is R77, R112 and R184 for the same packages. — silusaphon@dispatch.co.za
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