Telecommunication giants, MTN Ghana has sued the National Communication Authority over attempts to impose regulatory restrictions on the market operations of MTN, after declaring the company as a dominant/Significant Market Power (SMP).
According to a press statement signed by the company’s Corporate Services Executive Samuel Koranteng, the company has resorted to the law courts to seek redress in a form of judicial review of NCA’s decision, as the regulatory body continues with the implementation of the specified interventions despite some ‘largely encouraging’ engagements with them.
The statement said, “Following the NCA’s declaration, MTN Ghana refrained from publicly commenting on the matter and engaged in dialogue with the regulatory authority and other stakeholders to share our views on the matter.”
“While these engagements have been largely encouraging, the NCA continues with implementation of the specified interventions.
As such, MTN Ghana has after much consultation, and as a last resort, made the difficult decision to resort to the Law Courts for redress in the form of a judicial review of NCA’s decision, to ensure the observance of the requirements of procedural fairness,” the statement further stated.
The statement however stated that MTN Ghana remains open to dialogue to achieve an amicable resolution to the matter.
“MTN Ghana would like to reiterate that it is not opposed to steps by the regulator to enhance further the highly competitive Ghana telecoms industry and is indeed prepared to support the regulator to that end, while adding that, “however, we believe that the regulatory authority must follow the applicable legislations and global industry best practices.”
On June 9, 2020 the Ministry of Communications announced that the telecommunication industry was facing glaring disparities and imbalances that makes room for unhealthy competition.
According to the Ministry, MTN held 75% of the market share while AirtelTigo, Vodafone and Glo scrabble over 25%.
The Communications Ministry said it would be using the Electronic Communications (EC) Act 2008 and the National Telecommunications Policy to address the “imbalances” in a move it said was meant to be a correction other than a punishment.
Source: Awakenewsroom/Faisel Abdul-Iddrisu
