OPINION: Real Connectivity Should Look Beyond the Price of the Social Bundle

Following the UN’s declaration that access to internet is a human right in 2011, MTN Uganda ran a campaign in which the company further reiterated that “access to information, education and improved communication through the internet is a great way to build this nation.”

At the beginning of each month, MTN activated a free 10MB internet bundle (later increased to 15MB) on all customers on their network that had internet-enabled devices.

This was at a time when Uganda had less than 3 million people with access to the internet and social media adoption at its infancy. Technology advancement coupled with introduction of new data packages from MTN and other local operators ensured that 10 (or 15) megabytes a month became such an insignificant volume and the operator, in 2015, withdrew the offer altogether.

In line with its vision to deliver a bold, new digital world, MTN continued to utilize digital innovation as a means to deliver meaningful impact in the customers’ lives. Investing in faster technologies, increasing and improving data coverage across the country (literally), and support for mobile money-driven innovation that has opened up a new payment gateway for Ugandan merchants, crucially providing an alternative for debit/credit cards that are rather mainstream in developed economies.

Mobile money-based innovation means today, over 2 million Ugandans have access to instant loans (and savings) through MoKash, millions of dollars are transferred instantly to beneficiaries across the country — especially in places so remote that banks won’t be able to set up premises there within the short-medium term. And every hackathon — including the recently concluded MTN App Challenge — features teams of young innovators building tech businesses that rely on mobile money for payment processing.

Mobile money-based innovation now facilitates instant recharges of airtime and bundle purchases, reducing the environmental impact of scratch cards. By end of 2015, MTN Mobile Money was already facilitating more than 40million transactions each month!

From an economic perspective, with over USD 1billion being remitted back into the country by Ugandans living in the diaspora, services like WorldRemit and UseRemit are more paramount than ever; each telecommunications operator must be working towards building (or supporting) an ecosystem that delivers a cashless society.

This is why last week I was disturbed by Africell’s attempt to reduce internet to simply social bundle. To think that in 2017, an international operator is attempting to convince the country that as long as they can access SWIFT – Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, they have internet is simply mind-blowing.

“The  right to Internet access is the view that all people must be able to access the Internet in order to exercise and enjoy their rights to  freedom of expression and opinion and other  fundamental human rights, that states have a responsibility to ensure that Internet access is broadly available, and… may not unreasonably restrict an individual’s access to the Internet.” – Wikipedia

MTN repackaged their data bundle packages last week, in some cases giving more volume for the same price or reducing rates especially the daily data bundles that are used by the majority of their customers, according to information obtained from internal sources.

The changes led to significant commentary on social media, mostly negative, with most users angry that the social bundle on MTN was priced higher than on Africell.

Yet MTN reduced the price of its most popular internet plan – the Pay Go rate (or Per 10KB plan) from 3/- to 0.5/-

MTN had also adjusted the smallest bundles, ensuring that they now have the most competitive rates among key competitors:

So in terms of ‘big picture’, these changes are very significant as they affect the far less privileged members of our society that have to make the choice between a piece soap and a data (of voice) bundle; the kind of people who can’t afford both. These are the category of people we can rightly describe as underserved; the ones who need to connect to the internet to obtain critical market information for their agricultural produce.

From that point of view, the “social media bundle” is a luxury. It serves a segment of people fortunate enough to need internet just to do social media.

By restricting your internet experience to just 5 social media applications, your operator may be deemed to be “unreasonably restricting” your access to the internet if they don’t give you sufficient options. In some economies, it isn’t even legal. Google net neutrality.

We have to look at the big picture. MTN offers a total digital experience, and allows you the opportunity to get a preview of what the world can be if we’re all embracing digital innovation. In this kind of environment, an operator merely offering SWIFT as a reason to switch can’t be considered fair.