In June last year, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa ruled that service providers would have to allow for mobile users to have their unused data rollover every month. At the time, ICASA didn’t
“Without being overly prescriptive in respect of the expiry period of rolled over data, the authority would like to encourage licensees not to expire rolled over data before the expiry date of new allocated data bundle,” the authority said in its reasons document.
Either way, the regulation itself is worth cheer. Unused data would now, by law, have to rollover – meaning that consumers aren’t paying for data that disappears into the ether. The same regulation would allow the transfer of data to other users on the same network, and also not have users charged out-of-bundle rates without explicit user consent.
For the last few months, service providers have been
Here’s a look at the pricing for data
| Bundle Size Remaining | Price |
| <100MB | R 5 |
| 100MB up to = 250MB | R 12 |
| > 250MB up to = 500MB | R 19 |
| > 500MB up to = 1GB | R 29 |
| > 1GB | R 49 |
Vodacom says these charges are applicable to general data, Night Owl and URL based data bundle types. These changes all go into effect in March. Telkom, MTN and Cell C have already implemented ICASA’s regulations, and are doing so without immediate cost to the consumer.
There are a few conditions though. MTN data will automatically rollover up to two months for contract customers, while pre-paid users’ data will roll over as long as another bundle is purchased before the existing one expires. Cell C will extend data expiry for two months, beyond which a nominal fee will be levied. Telkom appears to have implemented rollover at no cost.
Thanks, Andrew Fraser, Business Insider
Last Updated: February 25, 2019
Geoffrey Tim
February 25, 2019 at 10:52
The Voda con
Kromas
February 25, 2019 at 11:21
You might wanna update your title it has been confirmed that Vodascum will charge you per data type. Therefore if you have say over a gig data plus over a gig nightowl you will pay R49x2 for both to roll over.
Nice of them.
Geoffrey Tim
February 25, 2019 at 11:28
JESUS
Guz
February 25, 2019 at 11:55
WTF! Bastards!
Hammersteyn
February 25, 2019 at 11:19
At least they roll you over the barrel for free.
Caveshen Rajman
February 25, 2019 at 11:21
I mean if this isn’t straight up admitting that data not rolling over before was an intentionally anti-consumer practice that justified ICASA’s ruling…
Glad I’m not a Vodacom customer lol.
Skittle
February 25, 2019 at 11:28
Vodacom is the EA of mobile networks
Viper_ZA
February 25, 2019 at 11:40
Oh well, f*ck Vodacom too 😉
Magoo
February 25, 2019 at 12:40
Good guy Vodacom:
cloudzn
February 25, 2019 at 12:41
Not surprised, I expect MTN to follow suit soon, both are extremely greedy bastards
jimz0r
February 25, 2019 at 10:52
Vodacom be like:
https://media.giphy.com/media/mpdNxvbxee5yw/giphy.gif
jimz0r
February 25, 2019 at 11:28
Funny thing. I literally just did a presentation at work that pointed out Vodacom’s ludicrous out-of-bundle data rates compared to other networks. (Presentation was mobile development related)
Vodacom: The EA of mobile networks.
Skittle
February 25, 2019 at 11:28
Dammit, I thought I cleverly came up with that last line!
For the Emperor!
February 25, 2019 at 16:20
Need to use up all my free minutes and then go Pay as you Go…and port away from Vodacom.
Llama In The Rift
February 25, 2019 at 11:28
Come to the Namibian side of internet..where we pay R15 per GIG
Guz
February 25, 2019 at 11:54
Not Vodacom specific but when MTN canceled my free minutes that I had built up over 15 years with them as a contract customer a few years back, I immediately canceled my contract. When I inquired about it, they said I should use the airtime up and not save it, what a load of BS, I paid for it so it should be mine and not expire!!
Since then Ive gone pay as u go, and never looked back. I basically only use whats app now and get my data from wifi and maybe R50 data a month for when there isn’t wifi available.
The telcoms industry is robbing us blind In SA from telkom all the way thru to the cell providers!!
Admiral Chief
February 25, 2019 at 12:11
Wow, I read through this whole thing, and cannot find a single ‘vaseline’. Yep, that is how much they want to screw you
cloudzn
February 25, 2019 at 12:41
Not surprised, I expect MTN to follow suit soon, both are extremely greedy bastards
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
February 25, 2019 at 12:53
Why do you need data anyway? My phone is used for phone calls and sms’s.
Gavin Mannion
February 25, 2019 at 12:53
… are you joking ?
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
March 13, 2019 at 11:20
No. I have so much data backed up I don’t know what to do with it.
Gr8_Balls_o_Fire
March 13, 2019 at 11:20
No. I have so much data backed up I don’t know what to do with it.
Geoffrey Tim
February 25, 2019 at 13:04
My phone is used for everything BUT calls and sms.