Dread it, run from it, inflation arrives all the same. MTN South Africa will increase contract prices starting from 01 February 2025. Price increases like this are a fairly regular occurrence. MTN might be one of the first to announce its 2025 changes, but it probably won’t be the last.
MTN drives the price
The mobile network provider will increase contract payments by an average of 4.4%, according to a MyBroadband report. MTN claims this is “due to macroeconomic and other factors such as network vandalism, battery and generator theft, and increased electricity prices.”
This 4.4% increase entails an average subscription fee increase of 8.3% and a 7% average increase in out-of-bundle voice rates.
“We have aimed to keep it to a minimum,” the network operator assured customers.
A few standard MTN usage charges will remain fixed. Out-of-bundle data will still cost R0.29 per MB, billed in 25KB increments. Other charges include R0.35 per local SMS and R0.70 per local MMS. Internationally, it’ll be R2.50 per MMS and R1.69 per SMS.
“Insurance fees, device fees, out-of-bundle data rates, SMS and MMS rates and add-on bundle fees have remained unchanged,” MTN SA said.
Other services will not be so fortunate, though. USSD fees will go up from R0.20 to R0.22 per 20-second session, and itemised billing will increase from R19 to R20 per month. MTN adds that these consumer price adjustments are key so it can continue to cover the costs of network stability maintenance.
