Vodacom and MTN have called for over-the-top (OTT) internet services to be regulated, arguing that they’re affecting their businesses.
The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services is expected to hold hearings to address the matter this month.
Tech Central Editor Duncan McLeod chatted to us about why the mobile operators are pushing for the regulation of the OTTs, which include services such as WhatsApp.
“It’s not clear why they have decided to do this. One can only assume that it’s because of the lobbying by some mobile players who have expressed their concerns about the impact of OTT services on their businesses. I think some of them have been more vocal than others.
“Cell C has come out and expressed its desire to actually work with companies like Facebook and others. It’s providing access to Facebook’s free basic services; it actually works closely with OTTs.”
READ MORE: WhatsApp faces possible regulation in SA
He adds that MTN, along with Telkom and Vodacom have argued that OTT services should be regulated.
MTN has complained that it spent billions of rands to build infrastructure and that the OTT providers use their networks to provide cheaper services.
“Most people argue, and I think correctly, that as a consumer you’re already paying for the data that you use for those services. Therefore the mobile operators should be profiting from the usage of the data on their networks and shouldn’t be expecting further benefit through regulation,” McLeod says.
Be that as it may, the mobile operators’ main argument is that these services are profiting through their networks. We ask McLeod what impact services such as WhatsApp have had on mobile operators’ profits.
READ MORE: Vodacom has no intention to block WhatsApp
“We can see the big impact WhatsApp has had on person-to-person SMSes. Most people don’t send SMSes, they use WhatsApp to send messages. So, WhatsApp has definitely had an impact on the operators’ SMS revenue. But by the same token, this has had a positive impact on data revenue because people send video messages and images through platforms such as WhatsApp,” he says.
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