The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) will conduct a survey in May on the state of the local pay-TV market. This prompted the leading operator MultiChoice to alert the regulator against a number of mistakes that could occur.

Calvo Mawela, CEO of MultiChoice's South African subsidiary, told MyBroadband that ICASA should avoid over-regulating the pay-TV business or it could “kill” the market. According to him, a heavy-handed regulations will hand the South African market to global online streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.

“The industry regulator ICASA should ensure the playing field for all broadcasters in the country is level, regardless of their underlying technology,”he said, adding that ICASA focuses on regulating pay-TV while the market is currently full of Over The Top (OTT) offers.

First hearings as part of this inquiry will soon commence.

Servan Ahougnon