Vodacom announces 70% saving on out-of-bundle tariff, free roll over of data

Vodacom today announced tariff changes to various plans and packages, including a reduction in out-of-bundle rates by as much as 70%, as well as an update on initiatives linked to ICASA’s new end-user and subscriber service charter requirements.

From 1 March 2019, out-of-bundle rates will decline from R0.99c per MB for prepaid customers and R0.89c for hybrid and contract customers to a single R0.49c per MB tariff across the board, which is up to a 50% price reduction. In addition, customers that choose Vodacom’s worry-free Data Refill feature can save as much as 70% on out-of-bundle prices with an effective price of R0.30 per MB. A below-inflation average increase on certain prepaid, hybrid and contracts will also come into effect on 1 April 2019, with the requisite one month’s notice in line with the Consumer Protection Act.

In terms of the new ICASA regulations, Vodacom’s contract and hybrid customers who subscribe to data only packages or an integrated package that includes data, will continue to have data rolled over automatically by a period of one month. This remains free of charge to the customer. From 1 March, remaining data on bundle purchases by all customers will be rolled over at no additional charge once a customer purchases the same bundle as the original one. Further enhancements to this service will be communicated in due course.

Commenting on the changes, Jorge Mendes, Vodacom’s Chief Officer: Consumer Business Unit, said: “In addition to simply implementing the ICASA regulations, we have gone further by slashing out-of-bundle data rates by between 45-70% to ensure increased value to customers. Additionally, roll over of data will be free. Over the past three years, Vodacom has reduced the effective price of data by more than 40% which shows that our pricing transformation journey continues to deliver real value to customers. As South Africa’s leading network, we work hard to provide great value to our customers, and we will continue to make significant investments in our network to increase speeds, widen coverage and constantly enhance customer experience.”

Ahead of the planned launch of the end-user and subscriber service charter on 1 March 2019, Vodacom will implement a number of other innovations to ensure it is fully compliant with ICASA’s regulations.

For example, customers will have the following options to ensure uninterrupted connectivity on the Vodacom network:

• Selecting to opt out of out-of-bundle blocking completely
• Purchasing another bundle, including personalised Just4You offers.
• Opting into Vodacom’s Data Refill service. This worry-free offering will ensure all customers (Prepaid, Hybrid & Postpaid) never go out-of-bundle as it auto-allocates a safety bundle in the event that their data is depleted.

Vodacom is obliged to suspend a service if none of the above options is selected.

From 1 March, it becomes mandatory to send depletion notifications at the 50%, 80% and 100% levels. Vodacom already exceeds this requirement with notifications at 50%, 80%, 95% and 100%.

Customers will be able to transfer data that is about to expire to friends and family on the Vodacom network for fees ranging from free for 50MB up to a maximum of R20 for 1GB.