TCS | Dominic Cull on why 'Fair Share' is a non-starter in South Africa

--:--
The big mobile network operators in South Africa “have never shown a willingness to … accommodate smaller players”, so the notion that they should be entitled to “Fair Share” is “difficult to swallow for smaller operators who have been at the end of their [unfair] business practices”.
That’s the view of Dominic Cull, a leading specialist South African ICT lawyer and regulatory adviser to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), who was speaking to the TechCentral Show (TCS) in an interview (published below).
Cull’s criticism of Fair Share – at least in the form being advanced by the large telecoms operators – comes as the Association of Comms & Technology (ACT), a lobby group that represents the country’s largest telecoms providers, agitates for its adoption by policymakers in South Africa.
Fair Share is an idea that has gained traction among operators in Europe, where margins have been pressured in a competitive market. They argue that so-called OTT – “over the top” – companies, which include streaming video providers such as Netflix, Disney+ and TikTok, should contribute a “fair share” to the development of broadband infrastructure.
Critics have said this is simply a move by infrastructure providers, which have experienced margin compression with the move from voice to data services, to try to claw back lost profits.
Speaking at last month’s Datacentrix Showcase 2024 event in Sandton, ICT industry stalwart Andile Ngcaba – who founded Convergence Partners – said the move by ACT to pressure policymakers and regulators over “Fair Share” is not needed or wanted in the South African context.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Ngcaba, who is a previous policymaker in South Africa and who served as director-general of communications in the Nelson Mandela administration.
In the interview with TCS, Cull echoed this view and said ACT’s lobbying for Fair Share is partly aimed at “catching the ear” of newly appointed communications minister Solly Malatsi and influencing what is included in forthcoming amendments to legislation that governs the ICT sector in South Africa.
In this episode of TCS, Cull chats about:
• Whether ACT has a point about Fair Share;
• How big content players impact smaller operators and internet service providers, and why the call for Fair Share is coming from the industry’s biggest players;
• The investments by the OTT players in both terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure, including Google’s investment in the Equiano cable and Meta Platforms’ involvement in 2Africa;
• Whether mobile network operators doomed to become low-margin “dumb pipes” like other utility industries. Can they somehow avoid that fate?
Don’t miss the discussion, and if you enjoyed it, check out our December 2023 interview with Dominic Cull on Starlink in South Africa.
9 Sep English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS+ | Network Platforms’ Warwick Ward-Cox – IP wrangler

Warwick Ward-Cox, chief technical officer at Network Platforms – a wholesale provider specialising in supporting internet service providers and IT managed service providers – is deeply immersed in the plumbing of the South African technology space, currently supporting over a 100 ISPs and MSPs. Ward-Cox, who has immersed himself in…
3 Oct 27 min

TCS | Donald Valoyi: South African on-demand e-commerce pioneer

Donald Valoyi saw the potential market for on-demand grocery delivery in South Africa early on, and his company Zulzi was a pioneer in the space. It even went on to help Shoprite Holdings launch the Checkers Sixty60 app. Zulzi was founded in 2013 as an “aggregator” of various shopping outlets…
2 Oct 48 min

TCS+ | From gen AI to deepfakes – the latest infosec threats

Twice yearly, ESET publishes its Threat Report in which it unpacks the latest trends and developments in the world of information security. Adrian Stanford, group chief technology officer at ESET Southern Africa, is our guest in the latest episode of TechCentral’s TCS+, and he provides a succinct overview of the…
1 Oct 18 min

TCS | Bruce Mellado on the tech-led fight against air pollution in South Africa

South African scientists have launched a cost-effective air-quality monitoring system built using internet of things and artificial intelligence technologies. Bruce Mellado, professor of particle physics and director of the Institute for Collider Particle Physics at Wits University, is one of the key people behind the new initiative, which is aimed…
18 Sep 35 min

TCS | Rebooting Cell C: Jorge Mendes sets out his strategic plan

Jorge Mendes has been in the hot seat at Cell C for just over a year, and the turnaround at the long-troubled mobile operator is starting to gain traction. In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Mendes sits down with TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod for a detailed interview in…
13 Sep 56 min