Malawi’s Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has approached the country’s operators to address consumer complaints over high data prices.
In August 2020, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology pressured the country’s operators – including Airtel Malawi and Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) – to reduce their prepaid or unbundled data rates by a factor of four, cutting them from MWK20 (USD0.02) to MWK5 per MB.
TeleGeography reports that since this intervention, MACRA has opened dialogue with operators in a bid to bring the pricing of mobile services in line with the cost of delivering them, with the regulator stating that it is “committed to ensuring that services delivered are affordable and of good quality.”
Standard bundles are the key target for MACRA, with operators agreeing to cut tariffs for 1GB data bundles by 30%. Larger data allowances will also see reductions but by varying degrees. The changes will be enforced from 22nd April.