{"id":149041,"date":"2016-01-13T10:58:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T08:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=149041"},"modified":"2016-01-13T10:59:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T08:59:57","slug":"why-should-whatsapp-pay-mtn-when-users-already-pay-for-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/149041-why-should-whatsapp-pay-mtn-when-users-already-pay-for-data.html","title":{"rendered":"Why should WhatsApp pay MTN when users already pay for data?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati recently called on industry regulator Icasa to <a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/142052-whatsapp-must-be-investigated-mtn.html\"><strong>level the playing field<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0between operators and over-the-top (OTT) services like WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to regulate them because clearly they\u2019re making a huge amount of revenue on top of the infrastructure that the operators have paid for. Somehow they have to contribute towards the building of this infrastructure,\u201d said Nyati.<\/p>\n<p>Head of WeChat Africa Brett Loubser spoke to MyBroadband about the statement, saying this isn\u2019t the first time tension between OTT services and operators has\u00a0surfaced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople pay for the data they use. I\u2019m not sure I understand the underlying argument,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said WeChat has had talks with networks on the continent, and those will continue.\u00a0\u201cThere are ways for us to work together.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">WhatsApp, WeChat regulated in SA?<\/h3>\n<p>An argument put forward by Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub and Orange Horizons CEO S\u00e9bastien Crozier is that OTT services should comply with the same regulations as local communications service providers.<\/p>\n<p>This includes paying tax on revenues earned in South Africa and complying with laws such as RICA.<\/p>\n<p>Loubser agreed that OTT providers need to conform to the regulations of the territories they operate in.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding paying tax in South Africa, Loubser said they currently run out of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we start moving towards real utility like money moving through our system\u2026 we are busy setting up local entities and conforming to local laws.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur aim is to set up local entities wherever we operate in Africa. For us it&#8217;s just an easier way to operate, otherwise the commercial arrangements can become painful.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"related\">More WeChat and OTT regulation news<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/banking\/147263-wechat-wallet-launched-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>WeChat Wallet launched in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/146905-why-whatsapp-must-be-regulated-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>Why WhatsApp must be regulated in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/145437-vodacom-wants-whatsapp-regulated-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>Vodacom wants WhatsApp regulated in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/columns\/144123-whatsapp-doesnt-owe-you-a-damn-thing-vodacom-and-mtn.html\"><strong>WhatsApp doesn\u2019t owe you a damn thing, Vodacom and MTN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/smartphones\/143234-why-mtn-hates-whatsapp.html\"><strong>Why MTN hates WhatsApp<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WeChat Africa boss Brett Loubser has expressed confusion with the argument that messaging services should help pay for mobile network infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":143240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[8853,35,3192,42,17840,34455,17842,1958,41,18945,2594],"class_list":["post-149041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-brett-loubser","tag-headline","tag-mteto-nyati","tag-mtn","tag-orange-horizons","tag-over-the-top-ott","tag-sebastien-crozier","tag-shameel-joosub","tag-vodacom","tag-wechat","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149877,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149041\/revisions\/149877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}