Johannesburg - Make SMS charges in South Africa free.
That’s the call from some Fin24 users who agree with a stance taken by the Wi-Fi Forum of South Africa (WFFSA).
READ: Make SMS free in SA, says Wi-Fi body
At a Parliament meeting on Tuesday about regulation issues around over-the-top players like WhatsApp, WFFSA’s Chair Andile Ngcaba called on networks to free up their messaging services.
Ngcaba’s call also came amid him criticising any possible regulation of OTT services in South Africa.
“In my view SMS must be free as soon as possible,” said Ngcaba at the briefing on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, several Fin24 users have agreed with Ngcaba’s views.
Fin24 user Douglas wrote: “Of course if the networks won't free up something the others such as WhatsApp are going to be the preference.”
Fin24 user Dirk said:
“Vodacom and MTN have been making super profits for too long. They should not complain - but keep regulation out of our economy. Whatever the government touches, turn into shit.”
Fin24 user Siviwe also said that SMS “should be free”:
“But people should be limited for the number of SMS's they can send a day if they are not limited they might use the free SMS service as a chatting app e.g WhatsApp”
Fin24 user Tshekedi said that making SMS free would boost competition:
“Yes I do agree that SMS must be free as soon as possible that will make networks to be competitive and maybe resurrects SMS services that the networks are crying about.”
Fin24 user Les said:
“Yes, should have been free from the start – it uses almost zero bandwidth, and costs telecoms nothing. But, who needs SMS today – ancient technology, limited to a few lines of text – other platforms can send pix, audio & video along with text. It’s like comparing www to early text-only internet. Even if it was free, who would use it?”
Finally, Fin24 user Allen wrote:
“Yes, and it's overdue. Companies should innovate, not regulate. It's a free market economy. Survival of the smartest.”