WhatsApp and other instant messengers face possible regulation in South Africa
Over-the-top internet services, such as WhatsApp, could be regulated in South Africa depending on the outcome of planned parliament hearings there this month.
Over-the-top services – which range from WhatsApp to Skype and Google Hangouts – allow users to make messages and calls over data networks – often at comparatively lower costs than traditional telephone calls or SMS.
OTT services like WhatsApp have rocketed in usage in South Africa with over 10 million users in the country, 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.
Subsequently, the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services told media 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?”
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