The Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa) has questioned whether the communications department and regulator Icasa are capable of bringing down what South Africans pay to communicate. In a statement on Monday, it asked whether lowering the cost to communicate is “still a government priority”.
Data prices are falling, the industry body said, but the overall cost of getting online, including the cost of devices, “requires urgent attention”, and there is little sign of action from government.
Its harshest words were for the department of communications & digital technologies, which it said has listed a cost-to-communicate programme among its deliverables for years. “There is no substance to the programme or clear position on what needs to be done to make devices and data more affordable,” Ispa said. It is not clear that either the department or Icasa “have the ability to do what is required”, it added.
It isn’t for want of investigation:
- The Competition Commission’s data services market inquiry, launched in 2017 and reported in 2019, found mobile data pricing to be anti-poor and secured cuts to entry-level bundles.
- Icasa followed with its own priority markets and mobile broadband services inquiries.
- In August, the department issued a tender for a study of why previous interventions have not delivered affordable voice and data.
- In September, Icasa gave notice of a market inquiry into telecoms affordability, which it withdrew and reissued on 30 September. Findings are a 2027 matter at the earliest.
Ispa chair Sasha Booth-Beharilal said the starting point should be free data for the poorest. “Reducing the cost to communicate is key to poverty reduction. As a start, South Africa needs firm action on providing a free basic data allowance to those falling below the poverty line,” she said. “This is already an established policy intervention under the National Infrastructure Plan and National Radio Frequency Spectrum Policy.”
Rules in court
Ispa credited Icasa with making “some headway” by reforming the rules on data rollover and out-of-bundle charges. But the regulator’s latest amendments to the end-user and subscriber service charter regulations, which force operators to roll over unused data at least once and stop out-of-bundle billing without consent, are being challenged in the high court by MTN and Vodacom. The rules are due to take effect on 23 January 2027.
Icasa “does not have a good record of defending its processes in court”, Ispa said. It pointed to the regulator’s attempt to increase competition in mobile broadband, which produced regulations that were never implemented before a court found them unlawful. Icasa has since abandoned that process.
Money is not obviously the constraint. Icasa left R333.7-million of its 2025/2026 budget unspent and ended the year with a R100.2-million surplus, even as it told parliament that a lack of funding was stopping it from buying the tools it needs to police operators.
The most effective interventions so far, Ispa said, were the Competition Commission’s negotiated price cuts and the removal of the 9% ad valorem excise duty on smartphones costing less than R2 500. The duty change, championed by communications minister Solly Malatsi, took effect in April 2025.
The commission also recommended changes to the Electronic Communications Act to strengthen competition. The Electronic Communications Amendment Bill was tabled in parliament only in April, almost seven years later, and Ispa expects it will not be finalised before the end of 2027.
Prices have come down, if unevenly. Prepaid customers paying R100 for 1GB in 2020 were paying about R79 by 2025. But on International Telecommunication Union price brackets, South Africa’s blended average of about R20.50/GB still lags 27 other African countries. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media
