Vodacom is facing the wrath of its subscribers, following yesterday's announcement that the mobile operator would throttle the connection speeds of BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) users who exceed 100MB per month.
Social networks erupted yesterday after the news broke; with many subscribers threatening Vodacom with the Consumer Protection Act and some saying they are considering changing operators.
Vodacom responded to criticism by emphasising that the new system is a result of its own research, which has shown that 95% of BlackBerry data usage is attributable to less than 5% of users.
As a result, BIS users who exceed the 100MB threshold per month will have their connection speed reduced from 3G to 2G. Vodacom says BlackBerry Enterprise users will not be affected, and emphasises that the new measure is aimed at improving the user experience for the majority of BIS users.
Responding to a barrage of questions via Twitter, Vodacom told worried subscribers that some in those 5% were using over 150Gigs a month, making the experience terrible for the rest.
The operator also said that since the data is compressed, it actually equates to two for four times more, and clarified that throttling will not affect e-mail, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook or Twitter, only browsing and streaming.
Chief technology officer Andries Delport says: “We need to ensure that all BlackBerry users are able to enjoy the service that they pay for.
“When we realised that such a small minority was using the bulk of the capacity, we decided to implement measures that will ensure that BlackBerry users will enjoy a better browsing experience overall.”
Not alone
MTN also appears to be considering the same strategy. MTN SA CIO Kanagaratnam Lambotharan says: “MTN has seen a significant number of customers using the BIS platform for purposes it was not initially intended for.
“MTN is currently exploring ways to minimise the negative impact this might have and will communicate to customers in due course.”
Cell C says it has no such plans in the pipeline at this stage, and while 8ta could not respond by the time of publication, it has been reported that it also has no plans to throttle BIS.
Virgin Mobile's chief marketing and strategy manager, Jonathan Newman, says in terms of the company's BlackBerry terms of use and conditions: “In the future, we may look at adding a fair use clause or other measures, should we deem it necessary.”
Research In Motion could not respond by the time of publication.
The operators will have to tread carefully, as Strategy Worx MD Steven Ambrose says Vodacom has lurched itself into a huge publicity disaster with the announcement.
Broken trust
“In their quest to optimise their network and improve their service offering, they have touched a raw nerve in the South African consumers' consciousness,” says Ambrose.
“The key differentiator and also key to the success of BlackBerry in the market was the perception of unlimited browsing, e-mail, and social networking. However well-justified the technical aspect of this move is, Vodacom have in one fell swoop broken trust with their user base.”
On Twitter, Vodacom also responded to the concerns of contract subscribers, stating: “No effect on contracts, the 'fair usage' policy was always in the contract. As we said, 95% of users won't be affected at all.”
Ambrose says the promise of unlimited access was key to much of the marketing and promotion of the BlackBerry solution, and no matter what the reality of the situation is, Vodacom could have found a “far more elegant solution to this problem”.
“Nobody likes to have something that they have taken away, even if in reality they never actually had that something, or truly used the unlimited option. It was comforting just to know it was there. Marketing is all about perception.”
Referring to the 100MB threshold, Ambrose says any cap is too low. “Again, the reality is irrelevant; the so-called 'abusers' should be dealt with in another way through a fair use policy. Putting a number on the solution creates more problems than it solves.”
Repeat misfire
Vodacom appears to be making the same mistake Sentech made in 2004 and the controversy surrounding MyWireless.
MyWireless was launched by Sentech to offer South Africans unlimited and uncapped access to the Internet. Everything appeared to be running smoothly for the first few months, until some users reported that connection speeds had suddenly dropped dramatically.
At the time, Sentech responded to complaints by saying that only 5% of customers were experiencing speed problems and that it was merely symptomatic of a growing network.
In July 2004, responding to bad publicity and multiple anti-Sentech Web sites, Sentech announced it would take steps to ensure the MyWireless system would not be abused further.
The company analysed user statistics and determined that 6% of users were abusing the system (with some downloading as much as 60GB per month), and as a result, a decision was made to begin managing the service.
Sentech's fair usage policy allowed it to manage those users who were abusing the system - despite the fact that the policy was not made immediately apparent to subscribers - causing another backlash. MyWireless was discontinued in 2009.
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