Vodacom and MTN declare war on consumers with WhatsApp regulation: Cell C

What complete crap from Vodacom and MTN. They are recovering their investment from their customers. Folks like WhatsApp aren't forcing anyone to use their products. They are pissed that someone else is earning revenue ? They should then charge every single company extra for daring to use their services as business mobiles.
 
His successor, Mteto Nyati agrees. “You have to regulate them because clearly they’re making a huge amount of revenue on top of the infrastructure that the operators have paid for.
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Really? Whatsapp doesn't charge for the privilege of using their service. Did you, as the head of a multibillion Rand company, even know this?!
 
koeksGHT said:
Whatsapp does make money. How much in SA in the question and does Facebook have to divulge that info?
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How can they make any money in SA? Before they recently stopped charging for their service, South Africans did not have to pay anyway. I don't know about one person who were ever forced to pay in order to continue using Whatsapp.

So the point stands. Whatsapp didn't make "huge amounts of money" in SA as MTN claims.
 
Viva said:
How can they make any money in SA? Before they recently stopped charging for their service, South Africans did not have to pay anyway. I don't know about one person who were ever forced to pay in order to continue using Whatsapp.

So the point stands. Whatsapp didn't make "huge amounts of money" in SA as MTN claims.
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Just because you don't have to pay, doesn't mean no one will pay.. got some xp there ;)


The question is how do they "know" they made "huge" amounts.
 
Fantastic column by Dos Santos.

Bravo Sir, Bravo.
 
because clearly they’re making a huge amount of revenue
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More likely the Cell phone companies are now NOT making a huge amount of revenue out of SMS's therefore their complaining. They assume their lost revenue from SMS's are going to Whatsapp which is not the case. Stuck in the 80's mentality.
 
Cell companies are scared of people using whatsapp voice or skype or other voip services over wifi, a scenario which means they will lose the call revenue, and, if the wifi isn't over their network, the traffic money too.

With free wifi availability expanding in cities they have cause to be worried unless they undersatnd that they are just another data service. Not that I feel sorry for them.
 
Yeah, they're going to have to close their doors if they keep going down this road. Its my data, I'll use it how I see fit. If you don't like that, perhaps you should stop supplying smartphones and tablets and stop selling data.
 
bekdik said:
Cell companies are scared of people using whatsapp voice or skype or other voip services over wifi, a scenario which means they will lose the call revenue, and, if the wifi isn't over their network, the traffic money too.

With free wifi availability expanding in cities they have cause to be worried unless they undersatnd that they are just another data service. Not that I feel sorry for them.
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Yeah as free wifi expands across South Africa and the wifi coverage expands in big cities and later to the suburban areas, you can expect the cellular companies to feel the crunch. In a few decades from now they might even go the way of the dodo as free wifi will be everywhere. Our great grandchildren might one day not even know what cellular provider companies are...
 
Love seeing a CEO with his head screwed on right.

Its really a shame I have just renewed my VScum contract. I'd love to move to Cell C right now.
 
OOT players get a free ride? We're the consumers paying for the data. THAT pays for the network you've built and we're entitled to use whatever (legal) service we want on it.
 
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