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Privacy and Data Protection

How we use your information

This clause explains how we collect, use, share and protect your personal information. This clause should be read with our privacy policy. If we update this clause and our privacy policy, we'll post any changes on our website.

Collecting your personal information

We can get your personal information when you:

  • Buy a product or service from us (including buying products online, over the phone and in a retail store or other retail outlet)

  • Register for a specific product or service (such as registering your name and address details for a Pay as you go phone or setting up an email account with us)

  • Subscribe to newsletters, alerts or other services from us

  • Ask us for more information about a product or service, or contact us with a question or complaint

  • Take part in a competition, prize draw or survey

  • Use our network and other Vodafone products or servicesVisit or browse our website or other Vodafone Group websites

We may also collect information about you from other organisations, if this is appropriate. These include fraud-prevention agencies, business directories and credit reference agencies. We may also collect information about you from other companies, our business, or joint venture partners.

Understanding what you want

We might also use cookies (small text files stored in your browser) and other techniques such as web beacons (small, clear picture files used to follow your movements on our website). These collect information that tells us how you use our websites, web-related products and services.

This, in turn, helps us make our website relevant to your interests and needs. We may use a persistent cookie (a cookie that stays linked to your browser) to record your details so we can recognise you if you visit our website again. See the next section for more details.

You can choose to refuse cookies, or set your browser to let you know each time a website tries to set a cookie. 

The personal information we collect

The information we collect about you depends on the Vodacom and Vodafone products and services you use and subscribe to. It includes (but isn't limited to) the following:

  • Your name, date of birth, home language, address, and email address

  • Your preferences for particular products, services or lifestyle activities when you tell us what they are - or when we assume what they are, depending on how you use our products and services

  • Your contact with us - such as a note or recording of a call you make to one of our contact centres, an email or letter you send to us or other records of any contact you have with us

  • Your account information - such as phone number, handset type, hnadset model, whether you are a prepaid or post paid customer, dates of payment owed and received, TopUp information, the subscription services you use or any other information related to your account

We'll also get information on how you use our products and services, such as:

  • The phone numbers that you call or send messages to (or the phone numbers that you receive these calls and messages from)

  • The date, time and length of the calls and messages you send or receive through our network, and your approximate location at the time these communications take place

  • The level of service you receive - for example, network faults and other network events which may affect our network services

  • Your website browsing information (which includes information about the websites you visit, and about how you use our website or other Vodafone Group websites on your mobile or a PC

  • The date, time and length of your internet browsing, and your approximate location at the time of browsing

Using your personal information

We may use and analyse your information to:

  • Process the goods and services you've bought from us, and keep you updated with your order progress

  • Keep you informed generally about new products and services (unless you choose not to receive our marketing messages)

  • Provide the relevant service or product to you. This includes other services not included in your agreement with us, and services that use information about where you are when using your mobile equipment (location information) and to contact you with messages about changes to the service or product

  • Contact you with offers or promotions based on how you use our products and services. These include your calling and messaging activities, location information and browsing information (unless you choose not to receive these messages) 

  • Bill you for using our products or services, or to take the appropriate amount of credit from you

  • Respond to any questions or concerns you may have about using our network, products or services

  • Let you know about other companies' products and services we think may interest you (including offers and discounts we've specially negotiated for our customers). 

  • Protect our network and manage the volume of calls, texts and other use of our network. For example, we identify peak periods of use so we can try and ensure the network can handle the volume at those times

  • Understand how you use our network, products and services. That way, we can develop more interesting and relevant products and services, as well as personalising the products and services we offer you

  • Carry out research and statistical analysis including to monitor how customers use our network, products and services on an anonymous or personal basis

  • Prevent and detect fraud or other crimes, recover debts or trace those who owe us money

  • Provide aggregated reports to third parties (such reports do not contain any information which may identify you as an individual). 

The information we use will be your approximate location, based on the nearest mobile cell site. As a result, this will change as you move around with your mobile phone.

We'll store your information for as long as we have to by law. If there's no legal requirement, we'll only store it for as long as we need it. 

Sharing your personal information

We may share information about you with:

  • Companies in the Vodacom and Vodafone Group (Vodafone Group Plc and any company or other organisation in which Vodafone Group Plc owns more than 15% of the share capital)

  • Partners or agents involved in, providing, delivering or offering the products and services you have ordered, used or been offered by Vodacom. 

  • Companies who are engaged to perform services for, on behalf of Vodacom (Pty) Ltd including Vodafone Limited, or the Vodafone Group

  • Where applicable, credit reference, fraud prevention or business scoring agencies, or other credit scoring agencies

  • Debt collection agencies or other debt recovery organisations

  • Law enforcement agencies, regulatory organisations, courts or other public authorities if we have to, or are authorised to by law

  • Emergency services (if you make an emergency call), including your approximate location

We'll release information if it's reasonable for the purpose of protecting us against fraud, defending our rights or property, or to protect the interests of our customers.

If we're reorganised or sold to another organisation, we may transfer any personal information we hold about you to that organisation.

We may need to transfer your information to other group companies or service providers in countries outside South Africa. This may happen if our servers or suppliers and service providers are based outside South Africa, or if you use our services and products while visiting countries outside this area.

At your option, we may also share your information with partner organisations we've chosen carefully, so they can contact you about their products and services.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have specialised security teams who constantly review and improve our measures to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure or destruction.

If we have a contract with another organisation to provide us with services or a service on our behalf to process your personal information, we'll make sure they have appropriate security measures and only process your information in the way we've authorised them to. These organisations won't be entitled to use your personal information for their own purposes. If necessary, our security teams will check them to make sure they meet the security requirements we've set.

Communications over the internet (such as emails) aren't secure unless they've been encrypted. Your communications may go through a number of countries before being delivered - as this is the nature of the internet. We can't accept responsibility for any unauthorised access or loss of personal information that's beyond our control.

How to opt-out 

If you no longer want to receive marketing messages from us, please contact our customer services team and you'll be 'opted out'. (You can get in touch with customer services through the Contact Us page on our site.)

You can choose to opt out of all marketing communications or to opt out of marketing in one of several ways