SIPHO MASEKO: Commission’s quixotic price fixing will do more harm than good in telecom sector
Competition watchdog purports to give relief to burdened consumers, and then takes it away
08 December 2019 - 19:35
Few would dispute that the cost to communicate should come down, but is regulating prices the best approach or should we be using pro-competition remedies to drive a stronger marketplace that benefits the economy?
Consumers will have learnt past week that the Competition Commission ordered Vodacom and MTN, SA’s largest telecom companies, to reduce consumer data costs as much as 50%. That would have been good news for cash-strapped South Africans, who feel data costs and the general cost of communication are too high in our country. The 1GB data bundle that now costs R150 could soon become R75 cheaper...
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