Why uncapped mobile data breaks South African networks

South Africa’s two biggest mobile networks prefer to offer full-speed capped products over throttled uncapped mobile data plans due to local user preferences and potential capacity overloads.

In developed markets like Europe, the UK, and the US, cellular networks often sell uncapped mobile data plans at reasonable prices for the average consumer.

To prevent straining their networks, the operators throttle speeds on these packages.

For example, Vodafone UK’s Unlimited plan supports uncapped data with speeds of up to 10Mbps for £26 per month, working out to R649 at the time of publication.

Vodacom in South Africa does not offer uncapped mobile data plans anywhere near that price. The closest prepaid data bundle in terms of price is a 40GB bundle for R712.

While a customer’s data allocation is finite, speeds are not capped, meaning you will get the best-effort speed at a particular place and time.

If you have a 5G device, you could easily get speeds of more than 100Mbps. However, many South African smartphone users don’t need that much speed.

Streaming at full HD resolution on Netflix or YouTube requires a download speed of less than 5Mbps.

South Africa’s mobile networks generally don’t throttle speeds for regular mobile usage, only on fixed-LTE or fixed-5G applications that can be used at one location.

Provisioning cellular network capacity in a way that is optimal for as many subscribers as possible is a complex exercise, especially in South Africa’s limited spectrum environment.

If a network does not get the balance between allocations, speed, and price right, it could spell trouble.

Too high a price, and the network may be under-utilised. Too low and the capacity gets overloaded.

Complicating matters further is the fact that the vast majority of South Africans access the Internet through a mobile connection, whereas the highest data demand in overseas markets tends to be on fixed networks.

Rain’s uncapped trouble

A good example of how getting things wrong can cause major problems is when Rain’s network performance tanked in 2020.

The deterioration came within a few weeks of rolling out its 10Mbps uncapped mobile data product for R479.

Despite limiting streaming quality and throttling torrents, Rain’s network quality plummeted due to overwhelming demand.

Rain ended up discontinuing all its uncapped 4G products for new customers with the launch of its RainOne offering in May 2023. Its only uncapped product is its fixed-5G line-up.

MyBroadband asked South Africa’s other mobile network operators why they were not taking a similar approach as those in other markets, where speed limits rather than data caps prevent network overloading.

A Vodacom spokesperson told MyBroadband it has no products with uncapped data that can be used in a smartphone or other mobile device, neither does it plan to roll out such packages in the immediate future.

“We believe in providing customers with an excellent network experience, hence the manner in which we have structured our capped tariffs,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the massive increase in data volumes from uncapped mobile plans would have a significant impact on its network.

“Our aim is to offer cost-effective, high-capacity plans that balance performance with fair pricing,” they said.

Value important — but speed critical

MTN South Africa does have a fully uncapped mobile data plan for non-fixed use. However, it is pricey — at R2,469 per month.

The operator acknowledged that uncapped data with speed throttling was becoming common in certain international markets.

The company explained that high network investment requirements and usage patterns in South Africa played a significant role in shaping local data plans. 

“These local conditions influence how mobile networks structure their offerings and the balance between speed, capacity, and pricing,” MTN said.

MTN said although value for money was important to its customers, network speed remained a critical element of the user experience.

It has become especially important as applications and services increasingly require faster and more reliable connections. 

“Our focus is to provide a balance of value, performance, and flexibility to suit a wide range of customer needs,” MTN said.

MTN seemed to be more open to adapting its products in the future.

“MTN is consistently reviewing and enhancing its products to ensure we remain competitive and responsive to what our customers want,” it stated.

“As customer needs continue to evolve, so will our offerings. Customers can look forward to even more value in the near future.”

While it did not provide feedback to our query, Telkom does offer uncapped mobile data products for use in mobile devices through its own retail business and several third-party ISPs.

Priced from R299 per month through Axxess, this plan limits speeds to 10Mbps for the first 500GB consumption in a month before dropping to 4Mbps for the next 50GB.

Thereafter, speeds are limited to 2Mbps for the rest of the month.

However, Telkom’s network is less extensive than Vodacom and MTN’s, so there are likely to be more instances where connectivity is a challenge.