If you thought the news of DStv’s price hikes (plural) was already putting excess strain on your wallet, you’re going to hate the newest info from Vodacom’s end. The operator announced last week that it was gearing up for its annual price hike that’ll be hitting its postpaid and fibre products soon enough. You have until 1 April 2024 to mentally (and physically) prepare for the increase.
Vodacom isn’t messing around this year
Vodacom’s justification for the hike is lodged firmly behind Stats SA’s announcement of 5.3% headline inflation for January 2024. Vodacom’s increases are less than 5.3%, coming in at 4.6% for customers on average. It also whipped out the same excuses it provided a year ago — blaming the hikes on base station vandalism, battery theft, Eskom’s inadequacy, and the ever-weakening Rand.
It’s not all bad news, though. Vodacom’s Consumer Business Director, Rishaad Tayob, mentioned that the operator was leaving certain products out of the equation, all thanks to the company’s commitment “to delivering innovations that enhance the value we deliver to customers to help alleviate cost of living pressures.”
“To help cushion customers from impacts of higher increases, the likes of insurance premiums, hardware and device costs, valued-added-services (VAS), out-of-bundle (OOB) rates remain unchanged,” he said.
Postpaid tariffs, recurring and once-off bundles weren’t lucky enough to escape the hikes and will increase by an average of 8% sometime in May, though Vodacom supplied no reasoning for the month-late increase. Oh, we’re not complaining. Yet. Fibre customers, on the other hand, should expect a 5% average increase “on selected fibre plans,” from April.
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The only people winning here are “selected” RED Integrated and RED VIP customers, who will get up to 11% extra data, and those on Flexi plans, who will “continue to get additional airtime.”
“We remain committed to contributing to the growth and resilience of the country’s economy while offering customers the best value, a robust network, affordable pricing structure as well as an exceptional customer experience,” Tayob concluded.
To get a better idea of how much more you’ll need to start saving each month, Vodacom has released lists of all the affected plans for the year ahead: