The other e-commerce sites need to actually protest and fight this. It needs to be tested in the courts. Unfortunately, we do not have laws regulating net neutrality and competition in Nigeria, however, there are consumer protection and contract laws and this may be tackled from those angles.
Whilst MTN the network operator and MTN the investor may be two different entities, they are affiliated entities and that matters. It is undue advantage and it is irrelevant that not many shop on Kaymu or use MTN. Today it is Kaymu, next, MTN will offer the same to Jumia, then it will matter,no?
I wish I had the locus to fight this. I hope those that do fight it.
It needs to be nipped in the bud before such things become a norm and endanger the growing ecosytem.
Techpointâs job is to publish credible blog posts and not contest right or wrong. You said you wish you âhad the locus to fight this. I hope those that do fight it.â?
What would you do, if you had the locus?
The legal system is a mess and it would cost a smaller firm a fortune to start and see this true in the court of law.
âThanks toâ is not reporting. It is an expression of gratitude for a good thing. Those are the words I have a problem with.
If I had the locus, I would sue.
Locus in this instance would be if I ran an e-commerce business. There are smart ways to do this if Nigerians didnât always conclude that no hope can be found in the courts. I am not saying that our legal system is not lacking loads but there have been valid and brilliant cases decided in Nigerian courts and the Lagos Judiciary is not so shabby. Ideally, this could be in form of a class action with the well funded ones (Konga, Yudala, Payporte etc) leading and the small ones tagging alongâŚ
Moreso, this is not a matter that is decided in the courts of law alone. The court of public opinion is actually where cases like this gain momentum.
Sadly, what may likely happen is the other well funded ones will find ways of partnering with the other telcos which leaves the smaller ones on their own and net neutrality a concept unknown in Nigeria.
I disagree. For any tech site to publish that story without even the scantest mention of net neutrality bothers on extreme negligence!
The only way youâre right - is if a tech blog site or journalist solely exists to be the official mouthpiece of a company. And their only remit is in publishing their latest âpress releasesâ. Then and only then are you right.
I genuinely canât believe thereâs a need to rehash these arguments. This is probably one of the most fundamental developments that will shape the technology landscape for decades to come. And after verdict has come in, weâre here still stuck on âit doesnât matterâ position.
Something tells me you feel your question is hypothetical and very clever. If Kaymu pays 1 TRILLION it will still be cheating!
Your âhypotheticalâ question happened far back in 2014.
Netflix now pays a number of American Internet providers to connect directly to their network, which has proven controversial; some advocates for net neutrality think that such commercial arrangements are contrary to the spirit of net neutrality itself.
You can read the rest belowâŚthis is far back in 2014.
Thatâs not the point. Itâs not about Kaymu itself but about what this means for the ecosystem at large.
@kingamaz I totally agree with you! The sheer apathy that people who ordinarily should be concerned have is shocking. Different versions of âit doesnât matterâ, all over the place.
From what Iâm reading here it says MTN invested in Africa Intenet Group in 2013 which belongs to Rocket Internet.
And part of the terms of that investment deal was that MTN is to develop and accelerate the growth of AIH.
I donât know if this is a good thing for everyone. But this is also similar to giving everyone a free WhatApp plan.
However, it can be argued that since MTN is mandated to promote its own investment in AIG while also being a neutral gateway for internet access for the competition; MTN could deliberately interfere with the competitionâs progress by sharing the competitorsâ business and trading data which goes through their network.
If the this investment by MTN was in a less competitive and probably patent driven industry this might have passed.
But seeing that this is public internet I guess this can be said to be a case of antitrust.
Except that your link refers to a law passed in the United States, and is not applicable here. Now, how do we ensure the people who can see the problem in this are the ones elected/appointed to public offices.
The only way this will be resolved is if one of Kaymuâs big competitors with the money to hire good lawyers takes this to courtâŚyeah, exactly not that many anyone cares about
If this was Irokoâs industry, you bet Jason would be all lawyered up by now.
Option 2âŚif an independent lobbying group takes this upâŚ
Waiting for a techie legislator to ascend office would be a long call.
Politics is usually about interest. We already have some civil right activists who have access to these legislators.
And this is the best time get them to work.
If we can prove that this sort of practice hurts the development of this sector more than it helps simply by promoting all that the Sherman antitrust law considers unfair advantage seeking to profit one entity more than the people; then we could start a âChange.orgâ campaign and get others who are like-minded involved.
Not to be in your face pessimistic, but when was the last change.org petition that successfully put in place a legislation in Nigeria. Also, thinking techie legislator is rather narrow minded as this is something that affects all industries.
