South Africa’s telecoms regulator is working on new rules that will allow consumers to roll over their mobile data bundles, addressing a major pain point associated with the cost of communicating locally.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) “is currently concluding for publication the final regulations, which will incorporate regulations 8A and 8B to address the rollover and transfer of bundles and align with the provisions of the CPA [Consumer Protection Act],” trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau said in a written response to a question by Sinawo Thambo of the EFF this week.
Though mobile data prices have decreased nearly 50% in the past five years due to regulatory and consumer pressure, South Africans still find this form of internet access expensive.
A major gripe compounding this issue for many consumers is the fact that mobile phone operators place a time limit on when airtime and data packages can be consumed. This is typically on a monthly, weekly or daily basis, depending on the package purchased.
The argument for proponents of the alternative is that airtime and data purchased should be allowed to be fully depleted.
In many instances, packages expire before a customer has been able to fully use up what they purchased, such as a 1GB bundle that terminates after a month with only half the data used.
During a meeting of parliament’s portfolio committee on trade, industry & competition on September 17 2025, the National Consumer Commission confirmed that mobile network operators who use expiry mandates for data and airtime are in violation of section 63(2)(a) and (b) of the Consumer Protection Act.
Read: Why your airtime and data expires — and why this won’t change any time soon
Thambo asked what action Tau had taken “to ensure that mobile network operators comply with the act and other applicable laws”.
The National Consumer Commission and Icasa have been working to align telecoms regulation around airtime and data expiry practices with the Consumer Protection Act since 2015.
In 2018, Icasa published an amendment which included regulations to promote consumer education and enable consumers to monitor their usage and control spending on communication services, roll over and transfer unused data, and disallow out-of-bundle billing without consumers’ prior consent.
Icasa has since put some of these rules into effect, publishing its revised “end-user and subscriber service charter regulations” in 2023. However, it chose to defer implementing regulations 8A and 8B to consult further with industry players. The regulator is working to put these into effect.
Pressure around this issue has been mounting.
In a rare appearance in front of parliament’s portfolio committee on communication & digital technologies, CEOs of South Africa’s largest mobile providers were at pains last July to explain why it is not economical to have packages that do not expire.
Members of the parliamentary committee, led by chair Khusela Diko, grilled the operators on what they see as an unfair business practice, particularly for vulnerable and poor consumers who make up a large part of the mobile customer base in the country.
The heads of MTN and Vodacom explained that their pricing frameworks are geared towards access to network services for a given time as opposed to unfettered admission in perpetuity.
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