South Africa’s cellular operators are jostling for market share in the fast-growing mobile data market, and promotional deals form a large part of attracting new subscribers.
The promotional data services typically provide a large discount over the standard data rates, which mean that consumers will be well-advised to stay abreast of the latest broadband deals in the market.
8ta’s R199 for 10GB of monthly data is still the best mobile broadband deal in South Africa, with the company’s 60GB + 60GB promotion making sense for prepaid users who need a fair amount of data.
Cell C, Vodacom, 8ta and MTN are also running 1GB, 2GB and 3GB data promotions which offer rates of well-below 10c per MB.
For low-end users, Cell C’s R7.50 for 50MB, with an out of bundle rate of 15c per MB, provides great value for money and removes the bill-shock associated with traditional R2.00 out of bundle rates.
The following table provides an overview of some of the prominent mobile data promotions currently in the market.
| Best mobile broadband deals | |||
| Service | Prepaid or contract | Data included | Price |
| Entry level | |||
| Cell C | Contract | 50MB | R7.50 |
| Mid range | |||
| MTN (with F@stlink E352 modem) | Contract | 500MB per month | R49 |
| Cell C smartdata | Contract | 500MB per month | R49 |
| Cell C smartdata | Contract | 2GB per month | R99 |
| 8ta Go Big | Prepaid | 2GB (+ 1GB after hours) | R149 |
| Vodacom (with USB modem) | Contract | 3GB (+ 3GB after hours) per month | R199 |
| High end | |||
| 8ta Go Big | Contract | 10GB per month | R199 |
| 8ta Go Big | Prepaid | 60GB (+ 60GB after hours) | R1,800 |
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Indeed. Currently I want 10GB of data. Once off. So I can run some major updates. I already have monthly bundles that meets my typical monthly usage requirements.