Zimbabwe data prices, a frontline in anti-Mugabe protests

Mobile airtime and data vouchers are displayed by a street vendor in Harare, Zimbabwe, January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

HARARE: For opponents of Zimbabwe’s veteran President Robert Mugabe, internet data charges have become a key battlefront in their campaign against a regime that often cracks down violently on dissent. 

Last week, the state’s telecommunications authority approved a sharp increase in mobile data prices – triggering a furious public response that forced a surprise U-turn.