It could be worse, we guess?

Nobody is safe. The adjustments, set to come into effect from 1 June 2025, were announced on the operator’s website and through an SMS sent out to all customers yesterday:

“As part of our annual update, there will be a 2-cent increase to out-of-bundle voice & data rates from 1 June ’25,” Vodacom said.

Read More: Amazon and Vodacom to launch Project Kuiper satellites in SA

This 2c per MB/minute increase pertains to all TopUp and contract customers residing on Vodacom’s network. Prepaid customers, on the other hand, will see their rates adjusted a little differently – certain customers will pay up to 6.9% more for their OOB voice and data rates, while others will contend with more manageable hikes of 4.1%.

Prepaid Voice & Data Out of Bundle price changes:

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South Africans love anything prepaid, and Rain knows it. By adding an extra line of products, the ISP plans to reach an entirely new market in the country. It seems the problem here isn’t whether Rain can sell prepaid products, but rather how to sell these services.

Blessing the Rains down in South Africa

Rain is concerned more about pricing than attracting new customers. It knows the market is there. Price too high and they risk scaring potential customers away. If it’s too low, profitability is impacted. It needs to hit that sweet spot, somewhere right in the middle. If it manages that, then Rain could steamroll other South African ISPs.

“I think with the economy where it’s at and the pain that consumers are going to experience, I think we aren’t naive that price points are extremely sensitive in the South African landscape,” Leigh explained.

Rain is still internally discussing potential pricing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t offer any hints for expected costs. But if the company is already at the point of announcing its plans, we can’t be far out from a launch. We hope.

Read More: Bringing the 5G Rains to more of South Africa

If only Rain’s CEO had stopped talking after that. He believes that Rain is helping offset the challenges the economic pressures South Africa is currently facing. Leigh reckons the company’s products are helping families out, because the cost can be shared between a few people, rather than buying data separately for a higher cost.

“In a sense, home Internet is actually almost offsetting the economic challenges that the world’s under,” he said.

And he’s not entirely wrong. He’s essentially just explaining what WiFi is, and making out like Rain is the catalyst for the idea. So yes, Rain is helping offset the economic challenges in South Africa. But so is every other ISP around the country.

Source: MyBroadband

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The prepaid data packages are uncapped, meaning users can use as much as they’d like, and is set at 25Mbps upload and 25Mbps download. That’s decent. Just to put that in perspective, Afrihost charges almost R600 p/m for a 25Mbps up and 25Mpbs down fibre line. 

As expected with anything labelled Telkom, there are a few snags — anyone interested in the service would have to buy a ‘starter pack’ (more on pricing for this now-now), migrate from Telkom’s post-fibre service and be on the Openserve network. 

The starter packs start from R1,000, and if you’re after a router, you’ll need R1,500. If you’re currently on a Telkom fibre contract, you’ll be able to migrate, but the provider will have to check if you’re eligible — so good luck on getting that done. This migration doesn’t actually cost anything. 

Telkom’s prepaid fibre prices:

If you’re keen, head over to the company’s portal and register for your starter pack, make payment and patiently await the installation. The company recently announced very attractive mobile data deals too. 

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Exactly a month ago, the mobile operator announced that it would be dropping its 1GB and 1.5GB data prices. Now its announced its Summer 2021 data deals, including both prepaid and postpaid (contract) offerings starting from R50 for 3GB anytime + 3GB night-time data. 

Telkom’s flooding us with love

“We know that things have been tough, no less in the last couple of years. Everyone is feeling the pinch. With the lockdown and everyone being at home more, the need for connectivity has only been heightened and we have responded to this demand through our compelling product propositions and network investments,”  says Telkom’s chief marketing officer, Gugu Mthembu.

The two main prepaid data offerings are as follows:

• 6GB data at R49 – 3GB anytime data and 3GB night surfer data, valid for 14 days, which replaces the current 2GB + 2GB at the same price; and
• 15GB data at R99 – 7,5GB anytime data and 7,5GB night data, valid for 61 days for anytime data and 31 days for night surfer, replacing its 5GB + 5GB bundle.

“Our summer proposition is to bring Monate, aka joy, to our customers; and extend that feeling of hope and warmth – an unending summer, Monate Waya Waya. So, we won’t stop just here, there’s more.” says Mthembu.

Then there are some postpaid deals:

• A discounted subscription on the current FreeMe 1.5GB, FreeMe 3GB and FreeMe 6GB plans, only applicable to 24 month and 36 month deals with devices;
• An additional free 60GB of Telkom data (Additional 20GB x 3months) to all customers signing up for a contract or TopUp deal.

To access Telkom‘s special prepaid data rates, head to *180# on your Telkom SIM card.

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If you sign up to the Discovery Prepaid Health platform (which can be done through the Discovery website), you’ll be considered a Discovery member, but you’ll have access to all of its prepaid/voucher health products. 

“[T]his product is available to anyone in South Africa with a valid identity document such as the ID document or ID smart card or a valid passport. Further, existing Discovery clients can also purchase the Discovery Health Prepaid voucher either for themselves or for somebody else like a family member or an employee,” a Discovery spokesperson said when Stuff spoke to them about the new products. 

These tailored health vouchers can be purchased from Discovery’s website, through a portal on WhatsApp or at over 350,000 retailers nationwide. Once a voucher is bought, it can be redeemed at any of the Discovery Prepaid network practitioners. 

Discovery of the R300 voucher

The first option available in the Discovery Prepaid Health range is the R300 GP doctor consultation voucher, which includes the medication prescribed by the GP during the visit. This isn’t limited to the R300 voucher cost, however, and the doctor’s bill, as well as the meds, will be covered by this voucher. 

“The voucher prices have been pre-negotiated with network doctors and so Discovery Prepaid customers are guaranteed to receive care for the voucher price amount. E.g., a R300 GP + meds voucher will give customers access to a face to face network doctor consultation and medication at the R300 price. Should the customer require a procedure or a referral to a specialist however, this service and cost is outside of the voucher,” the Discovery spokesperson said. 

Initially, the Discovery Prepaid Health network will include doctors in the major metros within eight of the nine provinces, but the health insurance company assures us that this will continue to expand, with new practices being added daily. 

This may not be the perfect solution to South Africa’s problematic access to quality healthcare, but this offering will make basic access to healthcare slightly more accessible. In addition to this initiative, Discovery is doing free COVID-19 screenings in collaboration with Vodacom.

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Vodacom customers will be able to enjoy movies, TV shows and popular Amazon Originals like Upload, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Carnival Row and Good Omens. Customers can watch Prime Video on up to 3 devices at the same time, both at home and on the go, with the Prime Video app on any compatible TV, smartphone, tablet, and more. 

“We continuously strive to partner with premium content providers to deliver compelling propositions that keep customers connected for a better future. The introduction of this Amazon Prime Video offer for our customers underpins our commitment to enabling a digital society,” says Jorge Mendes, Chief Officer of Consumer Business at Vodacom.

Inclusive of the Prime Video membership, Vodacom customers will also enjoy the benefit of access to Prime Gaming. Prime Gaming benefits include free games every month, in-game loot for some of the most popular games, and a free Twitch channel subscription every month. 

“We strive to work with like-minded partners around the globe to bring innovative digital lifestyle services to South African consumers. Over the years, we transformed ourselves from providing communications solutions only, to becoming a leading Pan African technology company. We are excited to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video to bring about quality entertainment to our customers. This is another way we aim to drive customers towards an all-inclusive financial and digital society” says Mariam Cassim, Chief Officer of Vodacom Financial and Digital Lifestyle Services.

Vodacom customers who are eligible for the 6-month Prime Video offer can quickly and easily activate the offer by visiting https://offers.vodafone.com/za.

For more information on how to activate the offer visit https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/services/amazon-prime-video.  

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