MTN says wrong to blame operators for data costs

South African telecoms group MTN said on Monday it was wrong to lay the blame for the country’s data costs with operators, after the competition regulator instructed MTN and rival Vodacom to lower data prices.

Read: Regulator tells Vodacom, MTN to lower data prices

“For more than a decade, government and regulators have failed to release the spectrum that the mobile industry has so critically required to bring down the cost to communicate. To simply lay the blame for data costs at the foot of the operators is wrong,” MTN South Africa said in a statement.

The company said it would study the Competition Commission’s report on data pricing and comment in detail at a later stage.