Accra High Court throws out MTN's case against NCA over monopoly

Telecommunication giants MTN have failed in their bid to overturn a directive by the National Communication Authority(NCA) that is seeking to reduce its dominance and monopoly in the telecom space in Ghana.

An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Samuel Asiedu, a Court of Appeal judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, has dismissed an application filed by the telecom giants that was seeking to restrain the NCA from carrying out what it terms its mandate.

The court has in a 33 page ruling quashed the suit filed by MTN while also awarding cost of GHC10,000 against them.

This ruling has now handed the NCA the go ahead to undertake measures that will streamline the sector and stop the monopoly of MTN and provide room for other telcos in the sector to also thrive and grow.

Background

The government of Ghana in June directed the National Communications Authority (NCA) to enforce provisions of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) and the National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) to address disparities in market and revenue share in the telecommunications sector.

Following the directive, the NCA said it will start immediately the implementation of specific policies to ensure a level-playing field for all network operators within the industry, with emphasis on maximising consumer welfare.

Under the National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) any operator with 40 percent or more market share in voice, data, short messaging service (SMS), and value-added services such as mobile money is considered a significant market power (SMP).

The NCA, in accordance with that, has declared SCANCOM Limited (MTN) as an SMP, and with that designation, the regulator is required to take corrective measures under the law to facilitate more market competition, ensure proper pricing for consumers and facilitate the overall growth of the telecommunications industry.

To correct the imbalance, the Ministry of Communications in a statement issued at the time pointed out that, the NCA would apply measures in exercise of its regulatory mandate, including asymmetrical interconnect rate in favour of the disadvantaged operators, setting of floor/ceiling pricing on all minutes, data, SMS and mobile money, review and approve all pricing by the SMP, as required by law, and require SMP not to have differential prices for on-net and off-net transactions.

It would also ensure various operator vendors were not subject to exclusionary pricing or behaviour, ensure that SMP’s access to information did not disadvantage any value added service of non-SMP operators and require operators to present implementation plans on national roaming services within the next 30 days for execution on or before the next 90 days, the statement said.

MTN described the move by the NCA as unfair and decided to contest the move in court.