The high cost of prepaid mobile data and the practice of data expiry have come under sharp scrutiny from lawmakers, with the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry, and Competition, Mzwandile Masina, declaring that the issue “cannot go on any longer.”
The statement was made following a series of engagements on Wednesday between the committee and three key regulatory bodies: the National Consumer Commission, the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa, and the Competition Commission.
Chairperson Masina raised serious questions about the policies set by telecommunications network providers, which see consumers lose unused prepaid data and airtime after a set period. He demanded the immediate attention of lawmakers to develop interventions that would bring relief to what he termed “long-suffering consumers.”
In defence of the current system, telecoms companies have argued that scrapping expiry dates is unfeasible. The industry maintains that placing a time limit on prepaid data bundles and airtime is necessary to keep prices affordable for the majority of South Africans and to enable efficient network planning and management.
To provide deeper context on the issue, technology and telecommunications analyst Mudiwa Gavaza explained the rationale provided by network operators. He likened their business model to purchasing an airline ticket or paying for a parking space—a transaction that grants temporary access rather than permanent ownership.
“The analogy that they gave is that… a person is paying for accessing… the network as opposed to a permanent place on the network,” Gavaza stated. He elaborated that from a technical standpoint, operators argue they cannot keep “everyone’s lane open indefinitely” without compromising network efficiency and the quality of service for all users.
When asked how other markets handle the issue, Gavaza noted that the practice of data expiry is common in many emerging markets similar to South Africa. He identified the key differentiator is not the expiry policy itself, but the underlying cost of data.
Citing Kenya as an example, Gavaza pointed out that significantly cheaper data prices make the issue of expiry less of a concern for consumers. He also highlighted a fundamental structural difference between South Africa’s mobile market, which is predominantly prepaid, and markets in more developed countries, where contract-based plans with unlimited data are more common.
“What makes our situation somewhat different,” Gavaza explained, “is the fact that one, you’re dealing with a prepaid market, two, you’re dealing with data prices that are still relatively high compared to other parts of the world, and then three, the fact that you do have an affordability challenge that needs to grapple with the fact that you’ve got network operators that still have that profit incentive they need to chase.”
The debate sets the stage for a potential legislative clash between regulators seeking to protect consumers and an industry insisting that current practices are essential for a sustainable and functional network.