Type of Resource:
Policy paper

Year of Publication:
2016

Indicators:
- Enablers
- Solutions or Strategies
- Trends


Themes:
- Internet Access, Affordability And Use

Author(s): Alison Gillwald, Chenai Chair, Ariel Futter, Kweku Koranteng, Fola Odufuwa,and John Walubengo

Challenges: African MNOs’ zero-rating practices raise the potentially negative unintended consequences that can arise from instrumentally regulating complex,adaptive systems that today drive innovation within the information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem in Africa; net-neutrality critique of zero-rating in the African mobile Internet context prioritises the technical principle. Enablers: zero-rated access also has the potential to drivecdemand for general-purpose mobile Internet access that can, in turn, stimulate demand for paid MNO data services and fund investment in infrastructure. Solutions: when found to have anti-competitive outcomes, African MNO zero-rating practices should be subjected to policy and regulatory remedies to address the outcomes at the level at which they occur.

URL
https://researchictafrica.net/publications/Other_publications/2016_RIA_Zero-Rating_Policy_Paper_-_Much_ado_about_nothing.pdf

Region of Study:


Country of Study:
Africa,

Study Quality
Medium