MTN prepaid price changes announced

MTN South Africa has announced out-of-bundle data, voice, and SMS price hikes that will impact all the mobile operator’s prepaid customers.

It says the price hikes are necessary to continue providing superior network and value-driven propositions in the face of ongoing macroeconomic challenges and rising operational costs.

“MTN will be making strategic adjustments to its Prepaid Price Plans Rates to remain competitive and continue to deliver a quality network,” it said.

This change applies to new and existing prepaid customers on the following price plans:

• MTN Bonus Bonanza
• MTN Bundle Bonanza
• MTN SuperData
• MTN BozzaGigs
• MTN Pay Per Second
• MTN Pulse

MTN’s out-of-bundle voice rates are charged per minute, data rates are charged per MB, and SMSes are charged per message.

The mobile operator advises that customers purchase voice, data, and SMS bundles to avoid being charged out-of-bundle rates.

Regarding out-of-bundle voice rates, those on the MTN Bonus Bonanza Bonus Airtime plan are the hardest hit, with rates increasing from R2.50 to R3.00 per minute.

Those on the MTN Pulse plan will continue to pay the lowest out-of-bundle voice rates, but the price per minute will increase from R1.05 to R1.15.

MTN Bonus Bonanza Bonus Airtime customers are also hardest hit by the out-of-bundle data rate hike, which will result in a 200% increase in rates.

The out-of-bundle price per MB of data on this price plan is increasing from R1.00 to R3.00.

However, MTN says the plan rewards customers with 100% bonus airtime on recharges of R5 or more. Free bonus data for airtime recharges will increase to the out-of-bundle data rate of R3.00 per MB.

“In addition, the standard out-of-bundle data rate on Bonus Bonanza will be increased from R0.29 to R0.32 per MB which is lower than the industry practice,” it says.

“MTN out-of-bundle rates on all prepaid plans are charged per second as opposed to per minute to offer customers more value.”

The out-of-bundle SMS rates are consistent across all six plans, with the price per SMS increasing from R0.35 to R0.40.

This comes after MTN’s contract price hikes took effect on 1 February 2025, after the mobile operator announced the new pricing in December 2024.

It said contract pricing would increase by an average of 4.4% and that the price hikes are necessary due to macroeconomic and other factors such as network vandalism, battery and generator theft, and increased electricity prices.

The table below summarises MTN’s new out-of-bundle rates for prepaid customers across six prepaid plans.