The regulation of over-the-top (OTT) Internet services will likely hinder information and communication technology (ICT) development across Africa as it will stifle broadband access, the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa) argued last week.

Mobile operators and networks needed to develop innovative solutions to coexist with OTT players to unlock the potential of the new-generation services to democratise communication and drive the uptake of broadband, Ispa chairperson Graham Beneke says.

Internet participation is increasingly dependent on OTTs, particularly as services such as WhatsApp, Google Talks, Skype and WeChat, besides many others, are favoured by mobile users as a cheaper, modern alternative to sending messages, making calls and interacting online.

OTT services make use of a mobile operator’s data networks, allowing users to bypass SMSing or traditional voice calls to communicate using data tariffs.

However, South Africa’s mobile network operators, are concerned about the impact on their revenues, are requesting that Parliament consider passing legislation or regulations per-taining to data services on mobile networks such that operators generate revenue for carrying the data services on their bandwidth infrastructure.

The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services plans to meet to “create a platform” for policymakers, industry regulators, OTT service providers, network operators and other affected stakeholders to discuss possible resolutions to the challenges.

Consideration will be given to regulatory interventions on the guidelines to regulate OTTs; the necessary policy interventions on how to govern OTTs; the impact of OTTs on competition; and if OTTs should to be defined as telecommunications services or telecommunications infrastructure and be subject to licensing and regulatory obligations.

Regulating OTT services, how- ever, will be a “technical night-mare” to enforce and will “simply encourage” the growth of other lesser-known messaging applications, Beneke argues.

Cell C, which is in favour of OTT, says regulation will impose new costs that could trigger the OTT players to withdraw their services from South Africa or push up prices for the consumer.

“History tells us that you cannot regulate progress out of existence. Imagine how the gross domestic product-boosting growth of cellular phones in South Africa would have been constrained if Telkom had decided in 1994 to approach Parliament with the unworkable idea that landlines and cellphones should be bundled together to protect its monopoly?” Beneke says.

“OTTs offer an affordable alternative to the millions of South Africans who cannot afford to make a call or to pay 50c each time they send a single SMS,” he adds.