While popular rhetoric insists that low-end mobile subscribers in SA are getting a raw deal, that belief has been debunked by a “secret” report.

Communications Minister Yunus Carrim recently stated that SA ranks 23rd in Africa in terms of mobile affordability and that the inability of Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to reduce mobile costs is leading to an increase inequality in South Africa’s economy.

But a new report by two independent research firms, Strategy Analytics and Pygma Consulting, revealed that SA’s mobile prices are well below other countries who have similar conditions.

In order to compare how SA mobile rates compared to peer countries, the report had access to sensitive information from Cell C, Vodacom and MTN. It then compared actual effective mobile tariffs paid by customers across 10 countries with similar demographics and GDP’s.

Because of the sensitive nature of the data contained in the report, its results were kept under wraps until MTN SA CEO Karel Pienaar presented some of the results to parliament in November 2012 and curiosity about the report was aroused.

Basically, the report had three major findings:

1. It found that low-end SA mobile subscribers received a very good deal when compared to peer countries.

2. The high-end market pays more than their international counterparts.

3. It debunked the widely-held belief that SA low-end market is receiving a raw deal, while high end customers score. The opposite is in fact true.

For a full analysis and charts visit: MyBroadband

[Source : MyBroadBand]