MTN has announced that its recently-launched WhatsApp data bundle will receive a price increase.
MTN launched new social bundles in April 2018, one of which offered 1GB of data for WhatsApp usage, valid for 30 days, for R10.
The company said that consumer response was “exceptional”.
“WhatsApp usage on the MTN network has increased by 300% in the past two months. Millions of South Africans are using WhatsApp on our network and millions more have been buying these bundles,” said Mapula Bodibe, Executive Consumer Business.
“An unintended consequence of this low-priced WhatsApp data has been an extraordinary increase in demand on MTN’s 3G network. MTN’s dual data strategy has seen consistent and sustained investment in both our 3G and 4G networks over the past few years to deliver a world-class network experience,” added MTN.
As a result, MTN said its WhatsApp bundle will be repriced from R10 to R30 from today, 16 July 2018.
“However, the most vulnerable South Africans that are currently spending less than R10 on WhatsApp per month will be protected. These customers, who are primarily using feature phones on our 3G network, will still pay just R10 a month for their WhatsApp access which will be offered to them via MTN’s *142# menu on MyMTNOffers.”
MTN said to protect the quality of its 3G network, it had to make this decision.