MTN Group, formerly M-Cell, is a South Africa-based multinational mobile cellphone company, operating in many African, European and Asian countries. An article from My Broad Band written by Staff Writer covers the story. This company believes that over-the-top services (OTT) in South Africa should be regulated just as cell-phone companies are. The portfolio committee on Telecommunications has heard their opinions and have scheduled to have a hearing on the matter. They will look into the impact of OTT social networks such as WhatsApp and Facebook on the industry and then make a decision of whether they should be required to licensing and regulatory rules. MTN claims that these social companies are “freeloading” by not paying taxes or creating jobs directly in South Africa.
A spokesperson for MTN, Chris Maroleng stated:
“Services like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram must be regulated by the government, because while networks have to comply with license conditions, these services get off scot-free…We have to adhere to very stringent license conditions and other legislative instruments that regulate our industry and these are done in the interest of both the consumer and to ensure that the industry remains sustainable and viable…Competitors who do not create jobs in this country, who do not pay taxes in South Africa, and do not invest in the infrastructure for these services to be provided must be held accountable.”
Another article posted by Times Live written by Gareth Van Zyl adds to this news story as well. Zyl adds that a reason these cellphone networks are so angry is because these social networks are in a way taking away their profits by providing a much more affordable way to send messages and make calls versus SMS. It is not a small dent either. WhatsApp has over 10 million users in South Africa alone according to a report done by World Wide Worx and Fuseware. The phone companies are understandably upset but to tackle every social network that has users based in South Africa and regulate them all seems like a job too big of a job for one cellphone company to handle. If the company could get other phone companies on board to agree with their complaints then they could possibly have a shot at this.