Mobile data in South Africa is exorbitantly expensive, even though it has been forced down by public pressure and minor legislation. Telecommunication companies are now trying to differentiate themselves by offering ‘cheap’ data packages for customers that use social media. MTN South Africa have now launched data bundles for TikTok, aiming their sights at the younger audience who’s accounts are primarily paid by parents or guardians.
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TikTok is the fastest growing social media company at the moment and MTN believes South Africans are ready to become a prime source for usage on the platform. Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok is a short-form video platform that evolved from what was called Music.ly at the time.
The new MTN data bundles for TikTok was launched several days ago and are designed for prepaid customers. “TikTok is a short-form video sharing app, which, according to DataReportal, has surpassed 1.5 billion downloads and 500 million active users worldwide,” MTN said.
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The data bundles for TikTok offered by MTN include the following:
- 100MB daily bundle for R5
- 500MB daily bundle for R20
- 1BG monthly bundle for R50
There are no official penetration numbers of TikTok in South Africa, but the popularity is mostly being measured off shared hashtags including TikTok. Reportedly, videos categorised with #tiktoksouthafrica have already surpassed 400 million views.
TikTok will now face some new competition from the likes of Byte, the newly launched successor of Vine. Vine started the short-form video sharing craze, but was shuttered in January 2017 relatively soon after it was acquired by Twitter.
Do you use TikTok and is this a deal that compels you to switch to MTN? Let us know in the comments below.
