In the early
morning I opened my Facebook to see if there is anything fresh going and my
sleepy eyes were attracted to a headline on 702 page screaming “are you for or
against #datamustfall campaign?” I zoomed into the comments section and all I could
see were disgruntled consumers. It was clear that many were in a vicious circle
moving between networks like a dog chasing its own tail. The disgruntlement has
been targeted at the mobile network companies but as I began to digest the
whole situation I realized there was a lot of ignorance at play. In this blog
post I am going to highlight some of the things consumers are not aware of
showing that it’s not only the networks who are responsible but also the
consumers have acted against their self-interests too.
It’s a Catch22 Situation for Consumers
Consumers want
cheap data and cite that it is too expensive. But unbeknown to consumers data
can be cheap and remain expensive. I know that sounds like a messed up oxymoron
but let me explain. The mobile service providers can charge in monetary terms
or in usage terms. If they are put under immense pressure, they will likely cut
the price and raise the usage. Here is an example:
Sipho pays R500
for 2GB of data from Vodacom translating to R250 per GB. For this data Sipho is
able to use internet (facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc) for
the whole month. With enough complaints via #datamustfall Vodacom agrees to
reduce the price of data by 50% to R250 for the 2GB. As expected, Sipho is very
ecstatic about this price reduction and looks forward to saving R250. But halfway
through the month he realizes that his 2GB is finished. Sipho now has to spend
the saved R250 to finish the month. What happened is that Vodacom reduced the
price (what Sipho pays) and at the same time increased the data taken for
connecting. For example where Sipho previously used 1MB to open Twitter,
Vodacom sets that usage 2MB, so the data rate has effectively double. The
difference is the same, Sipho is not bettered because the mobile service
provider holds all the aces. This is a catch22 situation which consumers can
find themselves in.
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| Image Illustration by Runyamhere |
The Consumer is Blameworthy
This might
shock many consumers but it’s true, the consumers have put themselves in harm’s
way by the choices they make. Of course many will say they were ignorant of the
obtaining situation but as they say “ignorance is no defence at law”. The majority
of consumers now use Android phones to connect. This was a choice they made
without coercion by any network operator. Android is software found on Samsung,
Sony, HTC, Huawei, some BlackBerry models and many other models. Android is
owned by Google and an open source software which anyone can use. Google is in
the business of selling information and that through targeted adverts, they
provide mapping information, traffic data et al. To achieve this feat of getting
real-time data, they look at all the phones using Android and ask the phones
for information, so Android phones are constantly being tracked or sending
information to Google servers on their location.
Google probably
knows where you work, where you stay, how long you stayed there, how you get to
work, what time you get to work, where you do shopping during month end, which
websites you visit, which music you enjoy listening to, the people you call the
most, the kind of things you are searching, possibly your state of health too. For
your phone to communicate this information it takes data usage especially
location tracking. It is likely that when you are using the internet that is
when information will also be relayed at higher frequency to Google servers. But
we also know that if you leave an Android phone idle you will find data
depleted even though no one was using it. So the Android situation is where
consumers traded saving for fancy operating system, they made decision that
harm their self-interest. Many Android users switch off data when phone is idle
to prevent this data loss. Of course we are at a point where the alternative to
Android is iOS of Apple. It comes with its own evils which doesn’t make it any
better. The mobile OS market was healthy when it was Nokia, Bada, BlackBerry,
Microsoft and others. Now it is a two horse race, consumers are like United
States voters now, having to choose the lesser of the two evil (Trump vs
Clinton). Who will consumers blame for their wrong choices?
Conclusion
I do not see
a way out for consumers, as applications like WhatsApp chew into the mobile
networks’ voice revenue, they will look to recover from somewhere and data is
increasingly the choice. MTN did try to have government look at the WhatsApp
calling situation and consumers pushed back in anger. WhatsApp used to be cheap
on data charges, 20MB was enough to send plain texts without downloads or
uploads of media files. It is no longer the same. So as I read the fury towards
mobile networks, I wonder what other choices humans are going to make against
their own self-interests. Facebook is coming with its carrot of free basics,
its founder was recently in Africa and showed keen interest in mobile money,
are we about to say goodbye to the banking sector as we know it? One thing is
certain, out of ignorance the consumers will find themselves in a corner being
enslaved by big corporations. For now I will hold onto my BlackBerries, at
least I know if I go to sleep it also goes to sleep and it will protect my data
against fishing data hungry corporates. The consumers participating in
#datamustfall must also take time to engage in #ignorancemustfall so they do
not harm themselves in other choices they will make like being gluttonous has
led to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) that is a topic for another day.
