Companies Ask for Message Services Like WhatsApp to be Regulated

The South African Parliament will discuss the possibility of regulating over-the-top forms of communication, which include services like WhatsApp and Skype, it was reported on Wednesday.

OTT services allow users to send messages and make calls over data networks, often at lower costs than traditional telephone calls or SMS. They have been growing rapidly in the South Africa, with a reported 10 million users already.

Vodacom and MTN, the country’s biggest mobile networks, last year called for regulation of OTT services in SA, which seriously cut into their revenue. The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services said it has scheduled hearings into the possible regulation of OTT services for 26 January, according to news reports.

While WhatsApp was the most obvious target of the companies, others affected would include TeamViewer, Google Hangouts and Viber, among others.

In other limiting news for the networks like WhatsApp, a European court ruled on Wednesday that companies have the right to monitor their workers’ online private messages.

The European Court of Human Rights made the ruling on a case involving a Romanian engineer who was fired after using Yahoo Messenger not only to communicate with professional contacts, but also to send messages to his fiancée and brother.