Parliament, Thursday, 24 August 2017 – The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services strongly condemns the incident involving Vodacom earlier this week, in which the company deducted millions of rands worth of airtime and data from customers.
Although the company has apologised to the customers and committed not only to refund them, but also to give them a 500MB bundle valid for three days, the Committee feels strongly that the matter should be investigated by an independent body.
“South Africa ranks fourth out of 17 African countries with high costs of data, and to have millions of people robbed of their airtime and data in this manner is a serious concern,” said Ms Dikeledi Tsotetsi, the Acting Chairperson of the Committee.
Having received inputs from individuals and organisations during the cost-to-communicate public hearings held in Parliament last year, the Committee has tasked the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to investigate the matter further.
Ms Tsotetsi said while the Committee is awaiting reports of the ongoing investigations by Icasa and the Competition Commission, the mobile network operators have a responsibility to conduct business in a manner that is just and lawful.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE ACTING CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND POSTAL SERVICES, MS DIKELEDI TSOTETSI
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Name: Mr Justice Molafo
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Email: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
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