Online Reporter
Trust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
The Government has slammed mobile operators for failing to implement data roll-over, a feature that enables consumers to carry over unused data balances to subsequent months.
Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Postal and Courier Services Dingumuzi Phuti, described the conduct as “robbery” and promised to take action against such operators.
He made the remarks recently during a question and answer session in the National Assembly.
Legislators had questioned why local mobile operators were not allowing bulk data purchasers to carry over unused data after 30 days, with a 30 to 60-day grace period, a common practice worldwide.
“It is unethical for operators to behave as such,” the Deputy Minister said.
“POTRAZ is to plug out these vices in our operators’ operations.
“I have not received anything so far about such tendencies but it is something that we have heard in our multi-stakeholder engagements through other consumer watchdogs and other service providers.”
The Deputy Minister said that although there was no specific incident that was highlighted, the Government was committed to looking into the concerns further and address them.
“Let me take note of it and take it up with the regulator and have us open our eyes wider to ensure that it does not happen.
“It is robbery to unsuspecting consumers and it is not to be allowed in this Government and through such a delicate space as the space of data and bandwidth,” he added.
This comes at a time when some rural areas with poor network coverage have become a cash cow for mobile operators, who are making a killing from unused data bundles.
With weak signals, subscribers are often unable to use their allocated data, which expires unused, allowing operators to pocket the money without providing the intended service.
