The Zimbabwe minister of ICT, Supa Mandiwanzira has said that the government rejected a proposal presented by the country’s mobile operators to explore the possibility of banning or stifling Over the Top (OTT) services like WhatsApp, Skype and Viber.
The minister made the revelations at the e-Tech Africa 2016 Conference.
He said they wanted an intervention because of the declining voice revenues in telecoms that have been accelerated by the same OTT services.
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According to the minister, the government turned down this suggestion because they saw it as an opportunity to encourage young Zimbabweans to develop local solutions that can rival the Silicon Valley OTT services while generating revenue that can benefit the country.
The request for regulation recently happened in South Africa with the Telco’s saying that OTT services need to go through the regulation they get.
