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The Association of Communications and Technology (ACT) has reportedly said over-the-top (OTT) players like Netflix, YouTube, and WhatsApp should contribute to the cost of building and maintaining South Africa’s networks.
According to Mybroadband, ACT Chief Executive Officer, Nomvuyiso Batyi, explained that these companies consumed a lot of bandwidth within South African networks, without contributing towards their upkeep or expansion.
“It is time to get tough, especially to those over-the-top players who use a lot of bandwidth, especially in the form of video. They generate a lot of traffic,” she said.
“We are saying that there are a number of options that they can look at, but they need to contribute towards the maintenance and the building of the infrastructure within the South African context.”
According to Batyi, OTT players in South Africa and globally have long benefited from the lack of a requirement to contribute to network costs.
She said this could be achieved through a tax or through building their infrastructure for everyone’s benefit.
Batyi explained that streaming players have thus far only invested in local infrastructure for their own benefit.
“You will see, with the members that I represent, they would go out of their way to share infrastructure with other players,” she said.
For example, Batyi explained that local broadcasters must pay signal distribution fees. If they are satellite-based, they must also pay a satellite network operator.
“However, it’s not the same with the over-the-top players. They are the ones who make money. There’s no sharing of revenue with anyone. They get to keep everything themselves,” she said.
“We are saying that because they’re using a lot of the bandwidth within the networks, they have to contribute. They have to make sure that they put in money.”
She compared the trend of OTT players not contributing to the government “lowering the bar” for new entrants — likely referring to recent moves to introduce equity equivalents for telecoms licences.
“These people must contribute towards universal connectivity. They must come in with the same requirements so far as BBBEE is concerned,” Batyi said.
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