R2K Youth Day Statement – Free Our Phones: #DataMustFall

This Youth Day, the Right2Know Campaign calls on the government and all network providers to commit in  ensuring that the cost of data and airtime is affordable to all people of South Africa.

Our call to bring down the cost of communication is a continuous campaign that is mostly supported by young people who feel the pinch.  

Right2Know is a movement centred on freedom of expression and access to information. We are a democratic, activist-driven campaign that aims to ensure the free flow of information necessary to meet people’s social, economic, political and ecological needs and live free from want, in equality and in dignity.

According to research, poor rural South Africans spend more than a fifth of their monthly income on communications. In relative terms South Africa has some of the highest data/airtime costs in the world. It is outrageous that in a country where so many struggle to put bread on the table, the telecoms companies are given free rein to rip us off.

Young people are struggling to access job opportunities because they can’t afford the internet, which is where some of these are mostly shared or advertised. It’s even harder for them to upskill themselves using free online course because of high data costs.

Our right to know will remain incomplete if our struggle is limited to securing access to information alone. We must struggle to ensure that information flows across society and that information forms the basis of a social dialogue that deepens our democracy and advances social, economic, and environmental justice. Our right to communicate – to receive and impart information and opinions – is central to our right to know.

Through our Free Our Phones campaign we demand:

• Free uncapped access to the 2G network connection on mobile networks.
• All SMSes should be free as they cost the operators almost nothing to transmit.
• ICASA must regulate the cost of airtime and data to stop profiteering.
• Pre-paid communication users should not cross subsidize post-paid users.
• Cell phone companies must improve the quality of service, including network outages, dropped calls, calls that don’t connect, and data coverage, etc.
• The range of numbers that are free to call (like police and ambulance) should be increased to include our children’s schools and hospitals.
• Communications must be universal. Municipalities must increase roll-out of high speed internet in public places.

For further comment contact:

Lazola Kati – R2K KZN Organiser: (072 956 7753)

Busi Mtabane – R2K National Communicator: (081 435 2212)