The operator will not throttle the connection speeds of BlackBerry Internet Service users, says Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys, following a fierce backlash from subscribers after Monday's announcement.
Last night, Uys tweeted for the first time about the issue, saying: “I hear your concern on BB. Not throttling anything now - working with BB to find solution to manage massive bulk file downloads.”
On Monday, Vodacom announced various measures it was implementing to improve the customer experience - including increasing network capacity and reducing congestion. In the statement it was said Vodacom would throttle the connection speeds of BlackBerry Internet Service users who exceed 100MB per month.
“That statement was actually incorrect,” says Uys. “We have not implemented any such system as yet, and we are still engaging with RIM [Research In Motion] about possible solutions. We are absolutely not throttling anyone's BlackBerry services.”
Uys, who arrived back from a trip to the UK last night to a PR nightmare, says over the last two months Vodacom had received an increasing number of complaints about the apparent decay of the BIS service on the network.
“The problem with this is that the service is encrypted, so for us to try and establish what was going on, we needed to engage with BlackBerry makers, Research In Motion,” says Uys.
Further investigation showed the service as a whole was being negatively affected by a small number of customers who were downloading excessive amounts of data.
“We established that some users were actually going onto Web sites via their BlackBerrys and downloading hours and hours of movies and TV series. These downloads would be going on 24/7 in the background on the handsets,” says Uys.
Abusing BIS
Uys also says another problem that has been identified is that some subscribers have been using tethering services to use their handsets and their BIS connection as a modem for their computers - bypassing the controls that are supposed to prevent such use.
Twitter users responded to Uys's statement, many thanking him for taking their concerns into consideration.
“@uyspj thanks for listening. I don't think anybody is justifying the massive abuse performed by few. Heavy legit users do not want to be penalised.”
“@uyspj The problem is the number; 100Mb is nothing. Throttling 60K people is too much. Nuke the guys that stand out or pick a bigger number.”
On Facebook, subscribers responded to the update by asking Vodacom to address lingering connection speed issues. One user asked Uys to fix the network since “a snail is faster” than the Vodacom network.
Another post that expresses a recurring sentiment among users states: “All of my friends and I who pay for BIS find that we can't use BBM or download anything or access Facebook, etc, from about 6pm to 10pm every night. In fact, we can't do anything that requires BIS. The only thing that we can do is utilise SMS and make and receive calls. So what is the point of paying for BIS when it's ineffective and inefficient?”
Not the intention
“I'm very concerned that the steps we were planning to put in place were interpreted as punishing normal users,” says Uys.
“This is not at all our intention and no changes have been implemented to slow down any customer's BlackBerry service.
“I promise that we are not going to be limiting anyone to 100MB, we are just going to work with RIM to implement measures to stop the incorrect use of the BIS. By managing this issue, we'll improve the service for all of our BlackBerry customers.”
Uys says Vodacom has not yet received a response from RIM. The BlackBerry maker could not respond to questions by time of publication.
“We can keep increasing our capacity, but we can never have enough capacity if some users are constantly downloading the amount of content that they are, 24/7,” says Uys.
From the top
Strategy Worx MD Steven Ambrose says Vodacom's backtrack on the throttling issue was swift and well done since it came directly from Pieter Uys himself.
“It is clearly apparent that Vodacom do listen to their customers, and in the face of vociferous and often vitriolic condemnation, they have reversed their decision to throttle their customers.”
Ambrose notes that it is always difficult to come back from a communications disaster such as this one, and that the damage is largely already done.
“To Vodacom's credit, the simplicity and directness of the tweet from Pieter Uys will go a long way in defusing the situation; their communication of the final solution will also assist if handled deftly.”
Ambrose predicts Vodacom and RIM will most probably find a way to block the streaming protocols, as well as the tethering programs that allow BIS to be used as a mobile modem for general Internet access.
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