South Africa's three cellular service providers have announced annual tariff increases that are good news for users, as the increases are below the rate of inflation. The increases are guided by the Consumer Price Index.

Vodacom and Cell C's tariff increases were effective as of the beginning of July, while MTN's increases will be effective from 1 August.

MTN contract customers are expected to see an average increase of 5.48%, while the only prepaid service that will have its rates adjusted is the Pay As You Go Call Per Second, which will be an overall increase of 1.53% on the prepaid plan.

Vodacom's increases in terms of monthly bills range from 0.26% to 7.89%, and the percentages are based on an average customer's spend profile, meaning they will vary from customer to customer, dependent on which service is used.

Cell C's overall average increase - dependent on which package is being used - ranges from 2% to 5%.

The company's Active Chat 100 package increases from R238 per month to R245, Business Chat 400 increases from R560 to R590, Business Chat 700 goes from R980 to R1 030 and Business Chat 1000 from R1 400 to R1 430.

According to MTN, SMS costs will remain unchanged at 86c, while the company has also introduced an international SMS charge of R1.58.

Prepaid price plans will remain the same, with the exception of the Pay as You Go Call Per Second option, which sees increases on off-peak rates. SMSs increase from 25c to 30c and voice calls increase from 90c to 96c.

Vodacom says users of its SMS bundles will experience a 10% increase. On the flipside, users of its Talk 500 and Talk 1000 packages will receive 100 and 200 free SMSs per month, respectively.

Cell C's peak time SMS prices remain the same, at 75c per SMS, while its peak international calls also all remain the same at R1.65, except on its Active Chat 100 package, where the cost is R1.87.

MTN says its data only subscription fees remain unchanged, as does its GPRS rates, although these will be billed per megabyte, in increments of 20Kb, and not for the duration of the call. This will allow users to stay connected constantly and only pay for the data transferred.

Other rates increases that are due in August include: Off-peak MTN to MTN and MTN to Telkom tariffs will increase from 86c to 88c, while tariffs to connect to other networks increase from 86c to 98c.

Vodacom's Talk 500 (7.1%) and Talk 1000 (7.89%) packages are among the company's packages with the highest percentage increases, while its Family Call S package shows the least increase, at 0.26%.

Cell C's Casual Chat 100 and Active Chat 100 packages see off-peak rates to other cellular providers decrease from 90c to 87c, while its peak rates to other mobile operators on its Business Chat 700 package will remain the same, at R1.24.

Peak rates for calls to Telkom lines also remain the same or decrease, dependent on the package.

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