Hurdling moats: Innovate, or regulate, just don’t penalise the consumer

By Stuart Lowman

Moats and innovation, a debate ignited by the recent Warren Buffett, Elon Musk sparring match.

And a debate Multichoice CEO Calvo Mawela jumped into when he argued for more substantive regulation on Internet-based TV services. It does bear mentioning that this recommendation comes after over 100,000 Premium subscribers left DStv last financial year largely as a result of Netflix.

And while an element of regulation may help, it should not deter players such as Netflix from disrupting a market traditionally held by monopolies.

Ultimately, it’s the consumers who suffer when companies fail to innovate when the assumption is the barriers to entry are too high to hurdle.