Vodacom South Africa wants a regulatory approach to data-driven over the top (OTT) applications such as Facebook-owned WhatsApp. WhatsApp has grown to over 10 million users in South Africa, according to research from World Wide Worx and Fuseware. Vodacom said that it has experienced a 33.5 percent data growth rate but that the company had invested ZAR 6.2 billion in South Africa to cater for greater internet usage.
This follows a ZAR 5.8 billion investment in 2014, Fin24 reported. Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group's CEO told Fin24 in an earnings call that "a lot of your data growth is driven by the same people who are trying to cannibalise you." Joosub's view echoes those of MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati in a recent interview with Fin24.
Nytai said certain players which are getting huge benefit out of an industry without making any investment. Joosub went on to call for OTT operators to face greater scrutiny. However, regulator Icasa (the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) is not currently engaged in investigations into OTT players. Joosub said that the load that OTT providers place on the network could have an impact on pricing for data services.
Source: http://africabusinesscommunities.com/news/vodacom-south-africa-calls-for-ott-regulation.html