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By BR correspondent 
1h ago
DURBAN – MTN went live with its revised price for its prepaid data packages below 1GB 30 days after the company’s voluntary commitments to tackle the Competition Commission’s Data Services Market Inquiry.
MTN’s commitments take the form of a voluntary social compact and price reductions, a daily life line of free data for customers and free access to public benefit organizations.
“We are pleased to announce the details of the price reductions that were committed last month and we continue to work with the Commission to also finalize an agreement in the coming days,” said MTN CEO Godfrey Motsa.
As of April 15, 2020, MTN prices on data packets of less than 1GB over 30 days have been reduced by up to 50 percent. MTN remains committed to constantly providing the best quality network, with affordable prices and real value for all of its clients. The larger packages have also seen improvements in volume and prices.
Motsa said the price reviews seek to offer lower prices and offer more value to all types of MTN clients across the country.
MTN immediate price reductions:
Source: MTN
Source: MTN
The highly popular 1GB monthly sub category sees significant price reductions today, while the 20MB and 50MB monthly packages double in volume, from 20MB to 40MB and from 50MB to 100MB, with no price change. Prices remain at R10 and R20 respectively, but for double the data.
Users of the popular 1GB package will enjoy a 34 percent price reduction from R149 to just R99, while 1.5GB users can now stay in touch for R149, a 21 percent drop. Users in the larger 50GB and 100GB ranges will also see significant savings, with prices dropping 25% and 29% respectively.
The new prices and volumes are detailed below:
The 20MB ayoba daily lifeline will ensure MTN customers can communicate with friends and family even when they don’t have airtime. This equates to 600MB of free data per month, every month.
The launch of the free ayoba data was launched in March, as part of efforts to ease the burden on South Africans during the current shutdown period. This move relies on the USSD zero rating line (* 130 * 119 #) to report infections and for other critical information. T
In May, the offering will be expanded to include free browsing of general websites to allow MTN customers who are also ayoba customers to surf the Internet on websites of their choice between midnight and 5am.
MTN has made significant progress in quickly tracking its zero rating of Public Benefit Organizations. The impact of the Covid-19 virus on South African communities has required urgent prioritization of zero-rated services in the health and education sectors.
MTN thanks the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies (DCDT) for their support in creating a Project Management Office (PMO) for the urgent zero rating of public benefit organizations to help in the battle against the Covid pandemic- 19. The PMO guarantees coordination with mobile operators and the Departments of Basic Education, Health, Higher Education and Training, Social Development, as well as the Government’s Communication and Information Service and the Association of Internet Service Providers.
A workflow has been established and operators can submit zero grade requests to the PMO to assist with the review and verification. The objective is to ensure that the zero rating covers as many affected parties as possible and that educational content that is rated zero is approved by the relevant educational departments.
Access to the Siyavula Foundation’s e-learning platform already has a zero rating for all MTN clients, which means that the website can be used without incurring data costs.
The MTN Foundation has also sponsored all South African 10th, 11th and 12th grade students, with an amount of R3 million, to have full access to mathematics, CAT and computer and physical sciences, learning materials, including practice sheets and exam preparation content. . This can be accessed through the Siyavula website and application.
Under the direction of the Department of Basic Education (DBE), MTN has also rated the website www.2enable.org zero. MTN has also rated the Olico Maths Foundation, which provides free, high-quality math education, for grades 7, 8, and 9.
In the past three weeks, MTN has rated an additional 369 zero-rated URLs covering online learning and health platforms. Educational platforms offer learning materials, all aligned with government curricula, for different grades and subjects.
These include:
1. www.eccurriculum.co.za
2. www.ecexams.co.za
3. www.africanstorybook.org
4. www.khanacademy.org
5. www.learn.mindset.africa
6. www.techteacher.co.za
7. www.extramarks.co.za
8. www.digitalclassroom.co.za
9. www.olico.com
Through the Department of Higher Education and Training, we are currently in contact with all universities to assist with the zero rating of applicable sites. MTN is currently assisting 20 South African universities with a zero rating and is in contact with the remaining six to assess those requirements. MTN is also in contact with TVET Colleges to help with zero grade support, where online study plans may be available.
MTN OpenTime
MTN is expanding the websites that will be part of its permanent OpenTime service, with clients who can access up to 500 approved public service websites through the website www.mtn.co.za, which will take them to the MTN OpenTime service. To gain access to MTN-approved public benefit service websites, customers must register for this service.
MTN will offer a free monthly data access of 500MB to public benefit services websites each month, amounting to 6GB per year, for each of the current 29 million customers of MTN SA.
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