Facebook is releasing a tool that allows users to transfer their photos directly to Google’s storage service in a bid to give people “control and choice”.

Vodacom and MTN must drop mobile data prices significantly, failing which the Competition Commission will consider prosecuting the two companies.

The Competition Commission on Monday unveiled surprisingly broad-ranging, tough and radical interventions in the data services market, including a proposal that mobile operators be forced to give South Africans a free allocation of daily data.

Vodacom and MTN said in reaction to interventions by the Competition Commission that a failure by government to allocate spectrum timeously is one of the reasons data prices are higher than they would otherwise be.

Cell C’s creditors aren’t giving up on a takeover offer from rival Telkom, which South Africa’s third largest mobile network operator rejected last week.

Shares of Vodacom Group and MTN Group slumped after South Africa’s two biggest mobile phone companies were ordered to step up efforts to lower data prices within the next two months or face prosecution.