South African expertise trade luminary Andile Ngcaba has slammed South Africa’s telecommunications operators for eager to erect toll roads for Netflix and different so-called “excessive” (OTT) corporations.
Talking on the Datacentrix Showcase 2024 occasion in Sandton on Thursday, Ngcaba – who based Convergence Companions – mentioned of the transfer by the Affiliation of Comms & Know-how (ACT) to strain policymakers and regulators over the idea of “Truthful Share” will not be wanted or wished within the South African context.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t repair it,” Ngcaba, who’s a earlier policymaker in South Africa, advised an viewers of 1 400 Datacentrix purchasers and companions. In a earlier life, Ngcaba served as director-general of communications however has been in non-public enterprise for the previous 20 years.
He mentioned Truthful Share is an concept that has gained recognition amongst telecommunications operators in Europe, the place margins have been pressured in a aggressive market.
They argue that OTT corporations – which incorporates streaming video suppliers similar to Netflix, Disney+ and TikTok – ought to contribute a “fair proportion” to the event of broadband infrastructure.
Critics have mentioned that is merely a transfer by infrastructure suppliers, which have skilled margin compression with the trade’s transfer from voice to knowledge companies, to attempt to claw again misplaced earnings and that customers already pay the operators for entry.
Ngcaba instructed that South Africa shouldn’t essentially look to Europe to formulate its ICT insurance policies, particularly on condition that the continent squandered its early lead in GSM cell to the US.
‘Not damaged’
“I’m arguing that we don’t want that (Truthful Share) right here,” Ngcaba mentioned. “We should not make things better that aren’t damaged.”
Nevertheless, ACT – the trade foyer group whose members embrace South Africa’s six largest telecoms operators – has begun lobbying intensely for Truthful Share, or one thing prefer it, to be launched domestically.
European operators need what they name “giant site visitors mills” – these embrace the likes of Netflix and Google’s YouTube – to pay their “fair proportion” for entry to their networks in Europe. Briefly, they wish to tax Massive Tech to assist them roll out broadband, a proposal that has drawn fierce resistance wherever it’s been proposed world wide. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
