BlackBerry data quandary for Vodacom
Vodacom says that, while it is the single biggest BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) operator in the world, it would need to “look at the proposition” where networks are protected in some way amid a rise in data use on smart devices.
Data lead at Vodacom, Jannie van Zyl, stressed that Vodacom was not throttling speeds for BlackBerry users.
“As a matter of fact we’ve got capacity on our links. If you run very big pipes you often get upstream bottlenecks, and we have seen that once or twice over the last couple of months. Our link to RIM currently is, I think, 2.3 or 2.5 gigabits. It’s a massive link and it’s not running at full capacity,” he said.
“The fact that you get a worry-free internet experience in terms of not having to manage your data consumption and your cap and so on is what drove BlackBerry.”
“Unfortunately, the proposition [has] changed a lot over the years. When we launched BIS originally, together with the other operators worldwide, it was really an email service – you could do your email, you could do your instant messaging, BBM came along and it was still all about messaging and it all worked very well,” van Zyl said.
However, RIM (BlackBerry), like the other manufacturers, moved into the “proper smartphone world,” van Zyl added.
Jannie van Zyl, head of data at Vodacom
“When we built for the original proposition, it was a very good proposition for both network operators and for consumers. You paid a fixed, flat fee; you had peace of mind; and you could always do what you needed to do on your BlackBerry…but then of course it changed. As the handset’s capabilities changed, this ability to download large files came about.”
According to van Zyl, the numbers are quite staggering. “We’ve seen 300 gigabytes in a month being downloaded on a BlackBerry handset for R59…that was a problem.”
A way forward
“I think we’ve learnt from the experience of BIS, and we are looking at how we can bring these propositions together where the networks are protected in some way, but we still provide this peace of mind,” the data head said.
“RIM is changing [its] architecture in BB10; we are doing some things to try and curtail the download,” van Zyl said.
He stressed that when Vodacom does look at the usage of certain consumers, certain things won’t be touched, including HBB browsing and email.
“But if we see people doing big downloads, we will put those on a lower priority,” he said.
“The reality is we need to really look at the proposition,” van Zyl continued, noting that other operators around the globe have adopted a fair usage policy, “where there is a fair amount of overhead to do what you are supposed to do in that policy, and then to have some kind of charge”.
He cited the case of BlackBerry usage in the UK, where customers paid five pounds for BIS, and then for every byte of data consumed on top of that flat fee.
Van Zyl said that, with a flat rate for BlackBerry usage in South Africa, it was unsurprising that Vodacom was the single biggest BIS operator in the world.
BusinessTech reached out to RIM for comment, which elicited the following response:
We work closely with our carrier partners to make all of our latest services available to the local market and to ensure BlackBerry customers have the best possible BlackBerry experience. When new services are ready to be launched, we will issue a joint press release announcing the new services.
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