World Dialogue on Regulation

WDR South African partner, the LINK Centre and the NGO Balancing Act have completed a study Assessing consumer activity in the telecoms and Internet sectors in Africa. The study seeks to answer three questions:

1. What consumer activity is happening in the internet and telecoms fields?
2. What impact are different types of consumer activity having upon key stakeholders?
3. How do key stakeholders view consumer activity?

The study includes detailed case studies by James Nguo (Kenya), Olivier Sagna (Senegal) and Charles Lewis (South Africa).

The report has four main sections designed to answer the key questions about consumer activity:

1. A regional overview provides a summary of findings from thirty African countries, including the three countries chosen for closer examination. It summarises this data under the following headings: number of consumers involved; legislative and self-regulatory frameworks; the level and type of complaints; the processes in place to resolve complaints; the role of the regulator; consumer organisations and related bodies; the role of the media; and policy and legislative input. 
   
2. Detailed case studies of Kenya, Senegal and South Africa look closely at the three countries providing data under the same headings used in section two. 
   
3. Case studies from elsewhere seeks to make comparisons in a number of different ways: by looking at consumer action on internet and telecoms in developed countries and looking at consumer issues in developing countries. 
   
4. The study's conclusions look at the implications of the research and recommendations.

There are three appendices:

• A bibliography of background reading;
  
• A list of generic and specialist consumer associations
  
• Achart of key findings from an Africa-wide survey.

Download the report from afridigital.net or from the column on the top right of this page.