In terms of lifeline data, MTN said it will provide each of its customers 20MB of free data daily — or the equivalent of 600MB per customer every month — through its instant messaging platform, Ayoba. The platform currently has 500,000 customers in SA.
The operator made the announcement at a briefing held at its headquarters in Johannesburg, joined by minister of communications and digital technologies Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
MTN said it will it announce further cuts for businesses and their other services.
The commission said there was scope for price reductions of 30%-50%.
The competition watchdog gave the two dominant mobile phone operators two months to slash internet connectivity prices or face prosecution. This deadline was subsequently extended to the start of March.
MTN has 29-million subscribers on its network and has been working to grow its data revenues. For the financial year to end-December 2019, MTN made R12.6bn in revenue from its data services in SA.
