Vodacom South Africa has given its post-paid customers notice that it will increase prices at above inflation, citing high network management costs and “inflationary pressures” as reason.

“Vodacom South Africa can confirm that from 1 February, a price adjustment will be applied across all contract packages. To minimise the impact on customers, this will translate into an average total bill increase of 4.7%, with no changes to device or hardware fees, value-added services or out-of-bundle rates,” the company said in response to a query from TechCentral on Thursday.

The announcement comes only a day after rival MTN announced increases to its post-paid tariff plans. MTN claimed its increases would average 5.4%, or 0.7 percentage points higher than Vodacom’s average.

Vodacom said the price adjustments “reflect ongoing inflationary pressures” along with rising network and operating costs. The network operator invested R11.6-billion in network infrastructure in the year ended 31 March. That figure is expected to rise to R12-billion by the end of the current financial year.

MTN cited similar reasons for its price hikes.

Despite being the two largest mobile operators in Africa, both Vodacom Group and MTN Group have seen their performances in their home market, South Africa, decline in the last year. This has coincided with competitive pressure in the prepaid segment, where smaller rival Telkom Mobile has been gaining ground with its data-led propositions.

Prepaid

Neither Vodacom nor MTN has announced price increases for prepaid customers. Telkom Mobile is yet to announce any price increases at all.

Read: Above-inflation price hikes to hit MTN customers

“Vodacom South Africa plans to invest approximately R12 billion to expand 4G and 5G coverage, strengthen network resilience and improve customer experience – including in underserved and rural communities, ensuring no one is left behind,” said Vodacom. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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