Johannesburg - Parliament is set to investigate whether over-the-top (OTT) players such as Facebook and WhatsApp are as anticompetitive as some operators have claimed.
OTT entities have been accused of making money off the back of mobile network operators’ investments without having to invest in infrastructure to provide data.
The surge in the use of OTT players in SA, especially Facebook and WhatsApp, has led to a rise in the use of data.
Mobile operators have been pushing the use of data to compensate for dwindling voice revenue as consumers move to alternative forms of communication. However, data is at much lower margins than voice.
As a result, some operators have long complained that OTT operators are profiteering at the operators’ expense because WhatsApp and facebook have not spent billions in installing networks capable of carrying high-speed data.
Not all of South Africa’s operators are threatened by OTT players, however, as Cell C has embraced players like WhatsApp and Facebook, even providing some services for free.
Now the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal services is set to look into complaints by operators concerning OTT services, and the challenge these services pose on revenue of cellphone giants.
In a statement, it says unnamed mobile operators are requesting that “Parliament consider passing a policy or regulations of data services on mobile networks such that they generate revenue for carrying the data services on their bandwidth infrastructure”.
A meeting at which stakeholders can comment will be held on January 26.
Stakeholders expected to attend include network operators, relevant ICT bodies and the Internet Service Providers.
IOL