These are Vodacom's new lower data prices

Retail 2 April 2020

Vodacom announced in a statement that it be dropping the prices of its data packages and it will be introducing new free products to its service from the 1st of April.

This comes after the Competition Commission’s ruled for networks to drop the price of data. The inquiry started in August 2017 and came after complaints from the public over high data prices.

Vodacom is dropping the price of 30-day data bundles by up to 40% from 1 April.

“Notably, 1GB of data valid for 30 days — often referred to as the ‘headline price’ — will reduce by 34% from R149 to R99 on all channels,” said Vodacom.

“Discounts will be provided on all 30-day bundles while further decreases will be effected on 1 April 2021.”

In addition, the company will be providing free, or zero-rated, access to essential services through its new ConnectU plan.

Vodacom said in a statement: “Learners and students enrolled in schools and universities can access relevant information for free, with no data costs. The ConnectU portal includes a search engine linked to open sources such as Wikipedia and Wiktionary as well as free access to job portals; free educational content on the e-School platform; free health and wellness information; and free access to Facebook Flex, the low data alternative to Facebook that enables customers to stay socially connected.”

These services are:

Job portals;
The e-School platform and other educational content;
Mum & Baby and other health platforms;
Facebook Flex;
Government sites like home affairs, ambulance services and government communication services;
School, university and tertiary education portals;
“Essential information such as local and international headlines”.

The operator’s various 30-day data bundle prices cut across all of its channels and, it said, will save consumers R2.7-billion in total over a year.

The new prices are: