ICASA has commenced its market inquiry on over-the-top services in South Africa, such as Netflix and WhatsApp, which continue to operate locally without requiring broadcasting or network service licences.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published a notice of its intent to conduct an inquiry into the impact of over-the-top services operating in South Africa.
These services included international giants like Netflix and WhatsApp, which have millions of users in South Africa.
ICASA said it intends to begin the inquiry into the impact of these OTT services on licencees and the regulatory framework in terms of section 4B of the ICASA Act of 2000.
This is the section of the act that gives ICASA the mandate to regulate electronic communications, broadcasting, and postal sectors in the interest of the South African public.
It also provided powers to hold public inquiries, grant licences, monitor compliance and handle complaints.
ICASA first revealed its plan to conduct a market inquiry on OTT services in South Africa in its Annual Performance Plan for the 2026/27 financial year.
It said that it would produce a discussion paper on the findings of this market inquiry, which could include a response to the Fair Share debate.
Fair Share is a proposal that requires high-traffic OTT platforms to pay traditional telecommunications network operators for the construction and maintenance of broadband infrastructure.
This argument has been supported by the Association of Communications and Technology (ACT), an industry body representing the country’s largest telecoms companies.
Core members of the association include companies such as Cell C, Liquid, Rain, Telkom, MTN and Vodacom.
ACT claims that the video, audio, and messaging services OTTs offer in South Africa compete directly with regulated service providers and do not adhere to the same local regulations.
“The rise of OTT for broadcasting services, such as Netflix and WhatsApp, has disrupted traditional broadcasting,” ICASA said in its annual performance plan.
It explained that unregulated OTT services from foreign providers were competing in the same market with regulated traditional linear broadcasters for audiences and revenue.
“OTTs disrupt the broadcasting environment and affect the use of conventional infrastructure and networks, threatening to render them useless,” it said.
In the Government Gazette published on Friday, ICASA issued a notice of its intention to begin conducting a market inquiry into OTT services in South Africa.
“The purpose of this inquiry is to establish the impact of OTTs on licensees in the telecommunication, broadcasting, and postal sector in terms of section 4B of the ICASA Act,” it said.
The regulator outlined its inquiry process in the gazette for the first time, indicating that it will begin and be conducted in a series of phases.
The first phase will see the commencement of the market inquiry following the publishing of its notice, which it has already completed.
It will then place a questionnaire on its websites regarding OTT services related to the market inquiry. Stakeholders will then be allowed to send in questions.
“Stakeholders will be given 10 working days, from the date of publication of this Notice and the questionnaire, to send any questions of clarity,” ICASA said.
“The Authority will respond to all questions of clarity by publishing a briefing note on its website within 10 working days of the final date for submission of clarification questions.”
ICASA has called for stakeholders to submit written responses to the questionnaire within 45 working days from the date of publication.
It said it may also request one-on-one meetings regarding information it receives from stakeholders, where necessary to obtain greater clarity.
The second phase of the inquiry will be a discussion phase, where a document is published for public comment. Here, stakeholders are again asked to submit written representations on the document.
“Written representations on the Discussion Document will be made available for public scrutiny on the Authority’s website,” the regulator said.
Phase three will see ICASA hold public hearings and publish a notice containing the dates and the order in which interested parties may begin making oral representations to the regulator.
The final phase will be the publication of the findings document in the government gazette within 90 days of the inquiry’s conclusion.
With administrative processes factored in, the full inquiry from commencement to the publication of the findings could take between 9 months and a year, or more than 200 working days.
