The Business Day reports that the final regulations on the expiry of data bundles will be in place by the end of October. It also says these are expected to bring relief to consumers, who have long bemoaned usage limits.
Duncan McLeod, from TechCentral tells CapeTalk's John Maytham that Independent Communications Authority Of South Africa (Icasa) has proposed that the data expiry on mobile networks be kept longer than thirty days.
McLeod explains that smaller data bundles such as 150 MB would last for at least two weeks before they can expire.
This raises an interesting question about whether the poor are being looked after in these regulations because it tends to be the poor who buy these data bundles.
— Duncan McLeod, founder and editor, TechCentral
McLeod warns that Icasa needs to be cautious with their proceedings in this matter.
What the regulator is proposing to do here, is to intervene in operational aspects of these businesses. And the operators have already cautioned that if you impose these longer data expiry periods it could push prices up.
— Duncan McLeod, founder and editor, TechCentral
They say that the data expiry is important for them in their network planning.
— Duncan McLeod, founder and editor, TechCentral
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This article first appeared on 702 : Dropping data expiry dates could push prices up - tech expert
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