Stupid telecon battle
MTN and Vodacom have declared war on consumer interests.
The infamous duopoly wants to limit how we use internet services like WhatsApp. And it has nothing to do with fairness, competition or the future of South Africa.
To the contrary, it is all about maintaining their stranglehold on a vital artery feeding our country ’ s economic and social future.
The two mobile networks have successfully lobbied government to investigate potentially regulating Over-The-Top (OTT) services, like WhatsApp. According to Vodacom: “You have these [OTT] players, which are getting huge benefit out of an industry without making any investment, ” and “Operators need to continue making a return. ”
MTN has been less diplomatic.
Former MTN South Africa CEO Ahmad Farroukh was quoted saying MTN was not prepared to spend billions of dollars building networks just so OTT players could get a “free ride ”. His successor Mteto Nyati agrees: “You have to regulate them because they ’ re making a huge amount of revenue on the infrastructure operators have paid for. They have to contribute toward the building of this infrastructure. ”
But regulation is not a bad thing. We need to ask serious questions about privacy, consumer rights and infrastructure sharing to reduce costs.
In this case, however, that is not Vodacom or MTN ’ s aim. Instead, they hope to confuse the issue.
Regulation would impose new costs. Costs that would either prompt OTT players to withdraw their services from South Africa or push up prices for the consumer, who already pays for the data to use those services.
But both MTN and Vodacom have historically resisted any attempt to “level the playing field ” in the mobile industry. They fought number porting and the elimination of interconnect fees.
These companies have shown no interest in the welfare of the customers who keep them in business.
But OTT services encourage consumers to participate more. The more they participate, the more they spend.
Good companies adapt and change to create new opportunities for themselves and their customers. Bad companies manipulate the system to only get what they want.
South Africans should interrogate the motives of companies that would support this kind of regulation.
Connectivity is key to the welfare of a 21st century nation. These platforms allow people to connect and be part of a global community. Think of all the conversations we have everyday on Facebook, WhatsApp, Google Talk, Skype, WeChat and more.
Consider the many services such as Gmail, Office 365, Sage Accounting and so on that allow small business to start and flourish.
OTT regulation will disadvantage everyone, except the networks whose only interest resides in protecting their revenues.