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South Africa’s mobile charges are high
- Mobile pricing in South Africa suggests that the costs of mobile services, including data and voice calls, remain among the highest in the world
- That makes the country a distorted and uncompetitive market
Mobile pricing in South Africa suggests that the costs of mobile services, including data and voice calls, remain among the highest in the world, making it a distorted and uncompetitive market, according to a study undertaken by a South African consulting group.
Importantly, South Africa’s mobile telecommunications industry has four major players. Experts feel that South Africa should consider access to affordable internet as a basic human right. It should be affordable to every citizen, experts maintain. This is a problem pointed out by several committees and experts. For instance, the country’s Competition Commission ruled that mobile data prices have to be slashed by up to 50%. Yet, many citizens maintain that access to the internet is still expensive.
At a macro scale, experts feel that Africa will require an investment to the tune of US$100 billion to create an architecture to provide internet connectivity to every citizen by 2030.
