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Porn to be 3G 'killer app`

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Johannesburg, 04 Feb 2005

Pornography will be the global killer application for third-generation (3G) cellular networks, says a British research firm. Local market pundits say it will arrive in SA too, but there is no clear policy on it yet.

British/American firm Visiongain Publishing this week released its "Adult Mobile Content 2005" report, which states that adult content will drive 3G revenues in the foreseeable future as international operators try to recoup their investments as soon as possible.

"Visiongain estimates that the total worth of the global adult content market in 2004 including publishing, video and DVD, pay-TV, premium phone lines, wireless services and Internet content, was 22.1 billion euro (R173 billion).

"From this figure the global market for mobile adult content in 2004 amounted to 0.51 billion euro (R3.99 billion) and is set to be worth 0.73 billion euro (R5.38 billion) by year-end 2005, a forecasted growth of 45%," the research firm says.

Huge revenue-generator

South African research firm WorldWideWorx concurs. "They have hit the nail on the head. Based on the global experience of adult content on the Internet, it makes sense that porn will be a huge revenue-generator for 3G," says WorldWideWorx MD Arthur Goldstuck.

Goldstuck says the South African public is known to be conservative as far as access to pornography is concerned - especially if it is readily available to teenagers and children.

There is also concern that teenagers and young adults, traditionally the quick adopters of new technology, would have even easier access to adult content through 3G, exasperating a perennial social problem that is often associated with a number of delinquent tendencies.

"In the short run, 3G is still expensive and complex and so teenagers and young adults may not take to using it to download porn yet. However, as the technology becomes more widespread and cheaper, then we can expect them to start accessing those types of content pages," he says.

According to Goldstuck, Vodacom, which launched its 3G offering in late December, has seen great demand for its data cards, but relatively little interest in the cellphone model that is currently on offer.

Code of conduct

Clickatell CEO Pieter de Villiers says 3G will be used first by the professional consumer who has a requirement to be online while travelling and that adult content downloads by teenagers will not be a problem yet.

"There are a number of debates about watching video streaming on a small screen and I don`t think we will see a big uptake there. However, the same people who are providing adult content via other means are planning to use 3G," he says.

Clickatell provides content suppliers with the technology to deliver their services and not the content itself.

Leon Perlman, chairman of the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA), says there are no clear guidelines in SA for the delivery of adult content over 3G.

"WASPA is putting together a code of conduct for its members that will include adult content. However, it is really up to the network operators to provide the overall policy," he says.

Dot Fields, Vodacom`s group executive of corporate affairs, says the network operator does have a policy of ensuring content providers operate within the law.

"If a content provider transgresses the law, we will take action that can include taking away their licence to supply content through our portal," Fields says.

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