Net neutrality fails everyone equally
A new study on Net neutrality claims African nations must emulate South Africa and avoid the mistakes of the EU to benefit from innovation, diversity and consumer choice from their mobile services. A report on the empirical study, from analyst Strand Consult sets out the mistakes to avoid if nations are to bring connectivity to the financially vulnerable.
Net Neutrality regulations kill creativity while failing to achieve their objective, claims Strand Consult. The biggest problem is that by imposing a one size fits all approach to network provision, the regulation neutralises the scope for invention that is a creative technology company’s greatest asset in a free market economy. Instead of adapting and creating new service levels for each type of customer, the telco is forced to provide a rigid ‘command economy’ style blanket offering.
The report Net Neutrality Regulation is Failing UK consumers, innovators, and investors found that South Africa has promoted consumer welfare much more effectively without Net Neutrality (NN) regulation. In contrast to the UK and EU with NN’s strictures, South Africa enjoys far greater innovation, diversity and consumer choice on mobile subscriptions, providing inspiration for the provision of connectivity to the financially vulnerable. Telecom policy researchers Bronwyn Howell and Petrus Potgieter explained and testified to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) that data in South Africa is sold by the three main network operators in various bundles defined by volume, time, content and service. Data can be bought for use within the hour, day, week, month and 90 day periods.
Given the freedom to discriminate in response to people’s needs, telcos can offer night packages from 1:00–7:00 am at steep discounts to take advantage of off-peak capacity. Packages are also marketed with specific, popular apps, like zero-rated YouTube or WhatsApp. This range of diverse consumer-centric offerings are overseen by South African regulator ICASA and they skilfully address the connectivity needs of people in all income levels, says the report. “Rather than focusing on the provision of subsidised connections with tightly prescribed, post-paid provisions, ICASA has seen that relaxing these minimum provisions allows operators to innovate with creative bundles that best meet customer needs,” says the report.
The report uses the problems experienced in the UK as a cautionary tale for Africa and the Middle East. By contrast, the UK is suffering from over regulation. Net Neutrality actually weakened the bargaining position of UK mobile operators in dialogue with global content giants. The study found empirical proof that there are no countries leading the development of 5G nation that have zealously enforced net neutrality regulations. “The notion of neutral traffic management is at odds with a smart 5G network, which adapts to meet the needs of the customer, service, and spectrum with intelligence, efficiency, and speed. Under net neutrality regulation, mobile operators face uncertainty that compelling offers will be deemed “non-neutral”. Hence modernising, if not removing NN regulation, is important to remove risk for Middle Eastern and African operators so that they can invest and market their services, it concludes.
“South Korea, Japan, China, and the US are all speeding ahead on 5G investment and rollout,” says the report.