Vodacom South Africa has announced it will hike subscription prices for its popular Red tariff plans from 1 April.
Average subscription fees are rising by 6.7%, Vodacom said on its website. However, the mobile operator — South Africa’s largest by subscribers — is adding 20% extra anytime data to all plans affected by the price increases.
“Cost increases are unavoidable across all industries, but we are committed to minimising this financial impact on you while keeping you connected to the people and things that matter most,” the company said in a statement.
The move comes after MTN South Africa and Telkom jacked up their prices, with MTN blaming load shedding and criminality at its base stations for its price increases.
Vodacom confirmed it was also hiking prices as a result of increased battery theft and base station vandalism as well as the challenging and inflationary economic environment.
Read: MTN hikes prices, blaming power cuts and crime
Vodacom said the tariff increases apply only to the tariff plan and not the overall bill, meaning there is no change to customers’ handset financing or any value-added services.
Read: Telkom announces big price hikes on DSL, fibre and more
“When it comes to your total bill, this means an average increase of 4.2%,” Vodacom said. Full details about the Vodacom price changes are available here. Stuff reported on the price increases earlier on Thursday. — (c) 2023 NewsCentral Media
