{"id":111417,"date":"2016-02-04T15:40:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T13:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=111417"},"modified":"2016-02-05T08:35:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T06:35:35","slug":"what-vodacom-and-mtn-dont-want-you-to-know-about-whatsapp-and-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/111417\/what-vodacom-and-mtn-dont-want-you-to-know-about-whatsapp-and-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"What Vodacom and MTN don’t want you to know about WhatsApp and Facebook in SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck recently wrote an open letter to mobile operators in which he proclaimed \u201cIt\u2019s over between us<\/strong><\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter followed a\u00a0Parliamentary hearing<\/strong><\/a> about regulating over-the-top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp and Facebook in SA.<\/p>\n

Vodacom and MTN argue that OTTs should be regulated in the same way that network operators are in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Following his open letter, Goldstuck posted a 10-tweet \u201ctweetnote\u201d presentation which he titled: Mobile Networks\u2019 dirty secrets of WhatsApp and Facebook.<\/p>\n

Goldstuck said that mobile network operators want taxes and limits placed on WhatsApp, Facebook, and other OTT services, but they hide 8 dirty secrets.<\/p>\n

1. <\/strong>These (OTTs) are the biggest drivers of smartphone uptake in the mass market.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Video and image sharing via apps gives a massive boost to networks\u2019 data traffic.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Data for most messages, videos, and images are paid for twice \u2013 once by the sender, and again by the recipient.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>The more actively people use them, the more they start using other apps too.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Networks that embrace OTT, like Tigo Tanzania and Cell C in South Africa, grow rather than lose revenue.<\/p>\n

6. <\/strong>These apps make no money from consumers, so there is little point snaring in a local tax net.<\/p>\n

7. <\/strong>If mobile networks limit apps, free public Wi-Fi will see massive growth and uptake.<\/p>\n

8. <\/strong>Limiting them is anti \u201cnet neutrality\u201d \u2013 the equal treatment of all data traffic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, the call by mobile networks to limit OTT apps is self-defeating, anti-consumer, anti-business. They must withdraw the call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More on OTTs<\/h3>\n

Cell C sticks it to Vodacom and MTN with free WhatsApp calling<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cell C warns of \u201charmful\u201d WhatsApp regulation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

WhatsApp could face regulation in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telecommunications industry analyst and researcher Arthur Goldstuck has said that mobile networks hide 8 dirty secrets about WhatsApp and Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":103535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26,28,27,2118],"class_list":["post-111417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111417"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111459,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111417\/revisions\/111459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}