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Stakeholder
‘hot topics’
in 2018
Delivering social transformation
The issue:
South Africa, our largest market, has
some of the highest levels of inequality,
unemployment and poverty in the world. Given the
need to promote greater economic inclusion in the
country, the South African government has highlighted
its commitment to implement ‘radical economic
transformation’. In terms of the ICT sector, this is
reflected in key provisions of the National Integrated
ICT Policy White Paper and the Electronic
Communications Amendment Bill. In our other
markets there is similar pressure from government,
regulators and consumers to further broaden access
to digital services.
Material stakeholder groups:
Government;
industry regulators; employees; business peers; and
customers.
Our response:
Our Vision 2020 includes a clear
commitment to removing barriers to digital access,
and to deliver the significant societal benefits
associated with improved connectivity. We are
committed to playing a transformative role in the
provision of financial services, education, healthcare
and agriculture, and to demonstrating leadership in
promoting BEE in South Africa. Our existing initiatives
to accelerate socioeconomic transformation include:
g
g
Our M-Pesa product that provides affordable access
to financial services to more than 32.3 million
(including Safaricom) customers, increasing savings,
reducing poverty and opening up valuable economic
opportunities;
g
g
Our substantial investment in extending networks
into rural areas across our countries of operation;
g
g
Promoting commercially viable mobile agricultural
solutions through our Connected Farmer platform,
and delivering measurable education and health
benefits through our mobile data initiatives;
g
g
Our Siyakha platform, offering zero-rated health,
education and career portals for low-income
consumers in South Africa;
g
g
Our investments in enterprise development,
preferential procurement, skills development and
employee diversity resulting in Vodacom
consistently being recognised for leading BEE
performance; and
g
g
A retail transformation strategy that encourages
greater ‘black’ ownership of our franchise channel.
Data costs
The issue:
The cost of accessing communications
services in general – and data in particular – remains a
prominent concern for consumers and policy makers.
Following the high-profile #datamustfall social media
campaign launched in South Africa in 2016, the
Competition Commission and ICASA have both
launched processes relating to the cost and nature of
data services.
Material stakeholder groups:
Customers;
government; industry regulators; and media.
Our response:
We recognise the imperative of
further lowering data prices, while not compromising
our ability to make the investments in network and IT
infrastructure needed to broaden and improve service
delivery. We have various initiatives in place to reduce
data costs and encourage customers to optimise their
bundles and data usage; these include:
g
g
Providing customers with bundles for varying periods
of validity at affordable pricing (down to 3c per MB
for a one-day, 1GB package);
g
g
Reducing our out-of-bundle rates by up to 50%;
g
g
Improving our in-bundle and out-of-bundle smart
notifications for customers in line with ICASA’s
recommendations, and launching a data refill service
to manage out-of-bundle pricing;
g
g
Running targeted consumer campaigns to increase
awareness on how to buy maximum-value bundles,
check balances and more efficiently manage data
usage; and
g
g
Making data more affordable through various
propositions that lower the cost barrier, such as
Facebook flex (a low data, free version of Facebook
without photos and video) and Siyakha (a platform
offering access to zero-rated career, education and
health websites).
16
Vodacom Group Limited
Integrated report for the year ended 31 March 2018