The absence of a formal regulatory framework for cloud services in SA and much of the global market creates opportunities for innovation.
This is according to Thembeka Semane, executive and non-executive board member at the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.
Speaking at the ITWeb Cloud and Data Centre Summit, held recently at The Forum in Bryanston, Semane noted that neither SA nor most other jurisdictions have passed comprehensive legislation governing cloud computing.
According to Semane, it is not necessarily bad that existing control measures are limited to privacy laws and general competition regulations.
In SA, collaborative forums such as the Digital Regulators Forum, involving the National Consumer Commission, FSCA, the .ZA Domain and ICASA, work together in accordance with global digital collaborative regulatory approaches, said Semane.
“The latest report from the Communications Regulators' Association of Southern Africa addressed mostly postal services regulations, but contained nothing progressive or specific regarding cloud services regulation. I could not find any information from other regulators in Africa,” said Semane.
When describing the global view on cloud services regulation, she said: “Some investors describe the situation in South Africa as regulatory uncertainty. This occurs when industries are overseen by part-time regulators, like myself, and in other instances when investors cannot find specific cloud services regulations. I have also observed a soft approach to regulation, where stringent laws are not passed. Instead, existing frameworks such as current data privacy laws are used to guide regulation in that space,” said Semane.
She emphasised that this “soft approach” lowers barriers to entry and encourages innovation, allowing businesses to expand services without facing stringent compliance hurdles.
“This is the time to take services to the market without regulatory hindrances,” she said, adding that with self-regulation and market competition, regulators do not need to intervene.
However, “the absence of legislation does not mean there is no need for it”, said Semane.
“If we speak of communications today, we cannot talk without including data centres and cloud services,” she said, noting that future regulatory intervention may be necessary to ensure fair competition and protect consumers.
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