South Africa’s Poorest Are Staying Up All Night for Cheaper Internet Rates
- Author: Ray Mwareya and Audrey Simango
- Full Title: South Africa’s Poorest Are Staying Up All Night for Cheaper Internet Rates
- Category: articles
- URL: https://restofworld.org/2023/south-africa-internet-access/
Highlights
- The leading mobile broadband providers in South Africa, including MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, and Telkom Mobile, offer bundles advertised with names such as “Night Surfer,” “Night Express,” or “Night Owl,” sometimes for as low as 25 rand ($1.47) per gigabyte on Cell C, the third-largest network in South Africa. (View Highlight)
- Although more than half the population has a smartphone, most users cannot afford data plans. In 2016, residents across South Africa demanded mobile broadband corporations slash internet charges through mass online protests under the hashtag #DataMustFall. (View Highlight)
- 2022, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, told local mobile service providers that it was working on measures to lower broadband costs for citizens, including an amendment to an existing law, which forces the companies to ensure that no purchased data, used or unused, expires within six months. Cell C, a leading South African mobile service provider, offers customers free additional data of up to 500MB between 1:00 a.m. and 7 a.m. if daytime connectivity has been affected by electricity outages. (View Highlight)
- Moyo said he needs a considerable data plan to download material and teach holiday-time geography lessons via WhatsApp to 15 students. He downloads material from the internet each night because he can do so for much less at that time and modifies it for his WhatsApp class in the morning. (View Highlight)
- The phenomenon of “happy hours” is also spreading to wealthier South Africans. Rolling blackouts, partly caused by power cuts from Eskom, the South African state-owned electricity generation company, have left homes and offices enduring hours daily without power. (View Highlight)
- I can afford any internet package, but I’m increasingly waiting for midnight internet happy hours, too, because that’s when electricity is switched on to power my Wi-Fi router, and the signal is better,” he said. (View Highlight)