(Update: iPad 2 has been launched in South Africa)

It looks like Vodacom is starting to cater more its gadget-loving consumers by announcing the availability of Multi Data SIM – which allows consumers to have up to 5 SIM cards linked to the same data bundle. Instead of having an individual contract for each device that requires 3G data, a user can buy a larger data contract (or bundle) and then have all devices use the data at the lower data rate of a large data bundle. This is great for users who have jumped on the iPad bandwagon, and had a bit of trouble with prepaid data on the device.

Vodacom states the following few pointers:

• Your additional Multi Data SIMs will not be dependent on each other and they can all be used at the same time, regardless of the cellphone or device that is being used at the time.
• You will only receive ONE invoice for your primary and Multi Data SIMs.
• Multi Data SIMs are available on 24-month data, month-to-month data, 24-month voice and month-to-month voice Contracts.
• If you have an existing TwinCall service, the primary and TwinCall SIMs are counted as one.
• Your Multi Data SIMs will consume data simultaneously from the same data bundle associated with your primary Contract .

Costs for dedicated data Multi SIM contracts are currently:

At the moment the only additional cost to use Multi Data SIM is R9 a month per SIM card, a cost I think is not too bad.

Now if  the re-invigorated red Vodacom can only start matching Cell C’s data prices, I reckon people will flock to these services in droves. But hey, its only been 6 months since Cell C brought the only serious competition to the market. I am sure the other networks are interested in competing with them. Right?