Vodacom is upping the bandwidth caps on its data bundles, effectively cutting the cost of in-bundle broadband to as low as 17c/MB, as a price war between operators intensifies.

Group CEO Pieter Uys says the move is meant to “simplify Vodacom’s tariffs”. The new tariff options come a month after MTN introduced new broadband offerings to its subscribers, including much-reduced out-of-bundle rates.

Vodacom says it will offer customers between 17% of 60% additional data for the same price on all data bundles smaller than 3GB. Most customers will receive 20% more free data, the company says. However, ad-hoc users, who don’t buy a data bundle, will continue to pay R2/MB for data.

The offer applies to subscribers who buy data contracts or those who purchase once-off bundles to use on an ad-hoc basis.

Vodacom is retaining its Broadband Standard and Advanced products, where the latter offers the same in- and out-of-bundle per-megabyte tariff.

Customers who subscribe to a Broadband Advanced MyGig One bundle would previously have paid 38c/MB; from 1 May they will only pay 25c/MB. For MyMeg 500 Advanced users, the price drops from 56c/MB to 37c/MB.

The new plans take effect on 1 May, says Uys. From that date, all subscribers will also have access to Vodacom’s 14,4Mbit/s 3G network. However, not all users will be able to take advantage of the 14,4Mbit/s service as only newer modems are capable of the higher download speeds.

For now, Vodacom has no plans to follow fixed-line broadband providers by offering uncapped products. Uys says Vodacom would only be able to consider this if it were given more radio frequency spectrum by industry regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA.

Vodacom’s move comes a month after MTN cut 3G data prices by as much as 84% and introduced a an unlimited per-day bundle that could prove popular among foreign tourists visiting the country. — Staff reporter, TechCentral