[kictanet] OTT Regulation: The Empire Strikes Back

[Barrack Otieno]

Interesting developements Mose. At the end of the day we should not punish
innovation.

Regards
On Jan 27, 2016 1:21 PM, "Mose Karanja via kictanet" <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> *South Africa - 26 Jan.*
> The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services
> organised a public briefing on the Over-The-Top (OTT) policy and
> regulatory options.
> *Internet Connection Providers* (MTN, Vodafone….) claim OTT services
> don’t contribute financially to the local networks, don’t pay taxes, are
> not focused on consumer security. Their proposal: Regulate the providers
> just like the telcos are to equal the playing field.
>
> *The OTT providers: *Google (Hangouts) Facebook (Messenger, WhatsApp) and
> Microsoft (Skype) countered these claims: Google said they pay taxes to the
> SA government (this is not even a matter of opinion. It is either they pay
> or not), Facebook pointed to the symbiotic relationship that exists between
> them and the Telcos seeing the data consumed while using the OTTs is
> clearly revenue for the telcos. On security, FB gains revenue from
> advertisement, not selling user data. Microsoft: Skype helps minimize
> communication costs for consumers. Innovators and new entrants to the
> market benefit more by using these services than the companies do in
> revenue from Skype, WhatsApp and such. Data segments in the Telcos are the
> fastest growing revenue bases. They should thank the OTTs for this.
>
> *The Consumer*: I would love to hear what consumer groups in SA had to
> say to the Parliamentary committee, if they were there in the first
> place.
>
> Clearly OTTs have slashed communication prices which ISPs have for long
> managed. Now that 'the times are a changing’ it is quite immoral, I dare
> say, for the telcos to lobby regulators help them deal with lost revenue (I
> prefer missed innovation).
> It is more like car makers asking fuel companies to compensate them since
> they are making profits from their products. It doesn’t work like that.
> Unfortunately, we this battle is seen as ISPs versus the OTT providers and
> not between Consumers and ISPs, the regulators might just forget who they
> are out to protect.
>
> Morocco suspended VOIP this month on this principle, Rwanda is thinking
> along those lines. Kenyan Telcos are thinking about it. We are in for a
> real show.
>
> For more info:
> http://ewn.co.za/2016/01/26/Parly-cautioned-against-regulating-OTT-services
>
>
>
> ---
> Moses Karanja | @Mose_Karanja <https://twitter.com/Mose_Karanja> | PGP:
> 0x1529552F
> <https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=index&fingerprint=on&search=0x1529552F>
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