The Government of Liberia official Telecommunications regulatory body, the Liberia Telecommunications Authority has taken drastic decisions on two leading GSM service providers in the Country.
At news conference on Thursday, the Acting Chairperson of the LTA Abdullai Kamara announced a fine of three hundred thousand United States Dollars each to both Lone Star MTN and Orange Liberia respectively.
The decision according to Mr. Kamara was taken due to scores of serious regulatory violations by both service providers.
He told journalists that their action which takes immediate effect is expected to see the two GSM violators comply with their fine payments within fourteen days beginning today, June 27, 2024.
“At the top of the list is the Floor Price violation and refusal to submit critical data with revenue implications”, he added.
A Floor Price is a regulatory intervention tool used to stabilize a declining market.
It can be recalled In 2019, the LTA used it to set a minimum consumer package price for both data and voice nothing that it was effective and in response, to Price Wars, between providers.
He alleged that the two service providers were each trying to outdo each other by providing more minutes per dollar to consumers, below market price something he refers to as Predatory Pricing.
“It looked good to consumers but it led to too much traffic on the networks, too many dropped calls and generally poor quality of service and revenue was on a sharp decline”, he noted.
Providers, the Acting LTA’s boss further indicated were unable to expand their networks and towers were being decommissioned nationwide while some providers were even laying off staff as a result, a shrinking telecom landscape, he narrated.
Kamara said the Floor price intervention stabilized the sector, revenue rose and providers were able to expand their networks and become more innovative.
However, he explained that what has been happening over the last year or so was a slow return to pre floor price offerings and once a gain we are experiencing a sharp decline in the market and government revenue capacity, something he inidcated is not good.
The LTA Acting boss stated that the GSM providers are fully aware of their actions nothing that their decisions was also part of enforcement of the quality of service regulations which the violators also refused to comply with following a year of nation wide survey for the sector which was comprehensively done by the LTA.
The GSM regulatory body also named other violations for their action as Cross border connectivity by Orange Liberia.
Orange Liberia he disclosed has a cross border connection license with the Ivory Coast which they acquired from the LiTA in violation of their license and they used it during the March internet disruption and still have it at their disposal today stating that their acquisition of that temporary License was not in writing and is therefore in violation”, he added.
Moreover, The LTA, he said discovered three new unreported links belong to Orange, two international and one local indicating that the LTA has not been informed by Orange and this too is in direct violation of their license.
He informed reporters that Data collection form these links cannot be verified unless they are indeed reported and permission is granted in writing from the LTA, “These violations are grave and compromise our ability to monitor the sector effectively”, he said.
The latets decisions by the LTA especially the fines imposed on both Lone Star Cell MTN and Orange Liberia, Mr. Kamara hopes will curb these actions by the service providers.
The LTA he said Intends to see fair competition and an open market and will not compromise non compliance by any group or companies.
According to him, some radio stations who were previously not in compliance are now meeting up with their regulatory obligations and if the radio stations can comply, he encourage others in the sector to follow suit.
