Speaking at the launch of an ACT white paper on promoting equitable participation and sustainable growth of broadband networks and OTT service providers, ACT CEO Nomvuyiso Batyi said OTT companies bypass the traditional legislative requirements that broadband operators are required to adhere to, threatening the sustainability of the industry.
ACT represents South Africa's six biggest telecoms operators, including Vodacom, MTN and Telkom.
"For the OTT services model to be successful, it requires high-quality and reliable network infrastructure," Batyi said at an event in Pretoria on Tuesday attended by TechCentral.
"The network operators need to ensure that the infrastructure is upgraded. As a country, we need to go back, from a regulatory point of view, to demonstrate how we will include OTT service providers to help maintain the network infrastructure over the short to medium term."
According to ACT's white paper, the only OTT players regulated in South Africa are voice-over-IP service providers. Streaming services for music and video and messaging platforms are not regulated, and ACT believes telecoms policy needs to be updated to include these companies in the regulatory regime.
