Over-the-top internet services, such as WhatsApp and Viber, could be regulated in South Africa, depending on the outcome of planned parliamentary hearings later this month, the respected Fin24 news site reports.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s popularity has increased in South Africa with over 10 million users, according to a recent report by World Wide Worx and Fuseware.
Amid this growth, South Africa’s two biggest mobile networks Vodacom and MTN last year called for regulation of OTT services in South Africa.
Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services has confirmed that it has scheduled hearings into the possible regulation of OTT services in South Africa on January 26.
A notice of the planned hearings, which was sent to relevant stakeholders, says the hearings are set to discuss “necessary policy interventions on how to govern OTTs, regulatory interventions on the guidelines to regulate OTTs” and the “impact of OTTs on competition”.
Another topic to be discussed at the hearings is whether “there (is) a need for the OTTs to be defined as telecom services (voice or data) or telecom infrastructure, and thus whether they should be subject to licensing and regulatory obligations (such as legal intercept and emergency call access) or not?”
“You have these players which are getting huge benefit out of an industry without making any investment. How do we level the playing fields?” an MTN official was quoted as saying at the time.
It’s unclear who will be presenting at the hearings at this stage.
