MTN South Africa has reduced the price of international roaming data on its partner networks from ZAR 2.50 per MB to ZAR 0.99. The new rate is available to all South African MTN customers on 154 networks in 72 countries.mtn south africa data roaming

“The reduction in international tariffs is part of MTN’s offer to offer all customers cost-effective solutions and premium connectivity, even while roaming,” said MTN.

Mapula Bodibe, chief consumer officer of MTN South Africa, said customers who spend a lot of time on their phones while traveling rely heavily on international roaming services.

“The process of buying a new SIM card for each new country and giving a new phone number to friends, family, and colleagues can get boring, especially for frequent travelers,” Bodibe said.

However, the complex pricing structures associated with international roaming services have made it difficult for customers to estimate how much they would pay for data usage while traveling.

“Therefore, we have reduced the data roaming speed to make business and leisure travel more enjoyable and convenient for our customers,” said Bodibe.

“Despite current restrictions on some travel outside of South Africa due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we want those who are still able to travel to benefit from these savings, effective immediately.”

MTN customers can check if the roaming service is activated by dialing * 135 #. mtn south africa roaming

While there is no need to consume data overseas, usage can only be tracked if a Hello World Data Bundle is active on USSD * 136 #.

MTN pointed out that TopUp customers should top up with a roaming package to use roaming services as they cannot use the inclusive value.

It is important to note that the data may be even more expensive when roaming on networks other than the 154 detected by MTN. mtn south africa roaming

You can find a complete list of national roaming partners and applicable tariffs for data, calls, and SMS here.

Below are the rates given for several popular destinations for South African travelers. Mauritius and Vodafone in the UK are notable outliers where data costs far more than R0.99 per MB.