Data prices will fall – minister

INQUIRY: EYES ON COMPETITION MARKET PROBE

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel says interventions by government will ensure data prices will fall.

Government to develop a skills framework for ‘the new jobs of the future’.

Economic development minister Ebrahim Patel said in a speech in Parliament yesterday that interventions by government will ensure that data prices will fall, as this is key to underpinning South Africa’s efforts to deal with the disruption and opportunities caused by the advent of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution”.

“We will bring down the cost of data through the competition market inquiry into data services,” Patel said.

The Competition Commission (CompCom) launched the market inquiry in August 2017 to determine what may cause high data prices and what interventions might be necessary to bring them down.

“The commission has initiated the inquiry because it believes there are features in this market that prevent, distort or restrict competition within the sector,” it said in a statement at the time.

Patel requested the commission to conduct the inquiry.

The minister said yesterday that government will finalise “the release of new spectrum and complete digital migration” of analogue television broadcasts. “We will conclude key policies, including the entry of cross-border e-commerce in South Africa.”

The main objectives of the CompCom inquiry are to:

Obtain a clear understanding of the data services value chain;

Assess the state of competition in the market at every stage of the value chain for provision of data services to identify areas of market power where consumers may be exploited or excluded by firms and to identify any other structural, behavioural or regulatory factors that may influence competition or pricing;

Benchmark SA data services pricing against those of other countries; and

Establish whether data supply quality and coverage are adequate by international standards and the country’s developmental needs.

Partnerships

Addressing Parliament, Patel said government will finalise the country’s strategy on the fourth industrial revolution and expand partnerships with the private sector, universities and research institutions.

He said new technologies will be disruptive in the workplace and in society. “They can create new digital divides in and between countries. But they also present enormous potential benefits, and, properly steered, we can harness technology to our developmental goals and in the service of our people. We should not focus on building a 20th-century economy when competitors are building the economy of the future.”

Patel said government will develop a skills framework for “the new jobs of the future and a social plan to address the disruptions to labour markets and workplaces that flows from new technologies”.

“We will invest in R&D to create the intellectual property base for our economy to benefit from the potential of these new technologies and provide funding for venture capital projects involved in these new technologies. And we will bring down the cost of data through the competition market inquiry into data services. – TechCentral

This article was first published on techcentral.co.za