MTN CEO, Rob Shuter
Major telecom operators in Nigeria, 9Mobile and Barti Airtel, Monday opposed the proposed transfer of operating licence and resources, including 800MHz spectrum from Visafone Communication limited to MTN Nigeria.
They
raised the objection at a public hearing organized by the Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC at its headquarters in Abuja.
Head
of Regulatory Affairs, 9Mobile, Mr. Chidozie Arinze in a response
to the proposal said spectrum remains a scarce national resource
available in limited quantity and as such cannot be leased to only
MTN as an operator to the detriment of other operators that do not
have similar spectrum in their possession.
He
argued that the 800MHz spectrum from Visafone must be managed in a
more efficiently and must not be given to one operator because it has
money in order not to create room for wider dominance of the market
by MTN, adding that if MTN is allowed to monopolize 4G, it can be
priced anyhow.
‘‘It
is like giving all Nigerian oil wells to one individual. The 800MHz
spectrum is good for 4G operation and every operator wants to deploy
4G. If MTN is allowed to monopolize 4G, it can be priced
anyhow.
‘‘MTN
has 4G spectrum already and it wants to get this, in essence, it will
be controlling 50% of the available spectrum in Nigeria.
‘‘This
is not done in line with the extant guidelines. It prohibits s
control of facility that cannot be replicated by competitors. If they
get this spectrum, the competitors don’t have similar spectrum and
cannot have access to it,’’ he further argued.
According
to him, the matter is already being challenged legally by 9Mobile
since 2015, adding that the continuation of the outcome of the public
hearing might end up as a prejudice.
Arinze
further noted that MTN had earlier opposed similar acquisition in
South Africa and queried the justification of its bid to replicate
what it rejected in Nigeria?
‘‘It
might be an issue with court processes if this hearing is conducted.
However, it is important that Nigerians understand that MTN fought
similar transaction in their country.
‘‘If
that acquisition is not good for South Africa, why is it good for
Nigeria? Spectrum is the same all over the world and in UK the
regulator places a cap on the amount of spectrum an operator can buy.
We expect same thing in Nigeria because it is a worldwide phenomenon
not peculiar to Nigeria.’’
For
the best way to achieve penetration is through competitor as
replicated in voice and data tariffs regime.
‘‘What
we propose is that this spectrum is very valuable, it belongs to
Nigeria. The commission must take the best interest of
this country and the subscribers in assigning this spectrum.
‘‘We
propose that the same thing that was done in SA should be done here.
The spectrum should not be left to MTN alone but be made available to
all operators in a cost effective manner in any approaches the
Commission deemed necessary.’’
Airtel
Representative, Lucky Ubani urged the NCC not to allow MTN acquire
the spectrum as such step would extend its market dominance beyond
voice segment, which he said could spell doom for the industry.
He
warned that care should be taken in order not to create another
monopoly in the market and urged the regulator to come up with
measures that would enable other top operators operate side by side
with MTN.
He
said, ‘‘In India there is a specific cap to which a single
operator should acquire spectrum order wise there will be a huge
disadvantage.
‘‘The
Commission should replan the GH spectrum bands with the national
Spectrum management Commission and the National Broadcasting
Commission for the benefit of all. ‘‘If we continue to
allow this to happen, it will not be well for the industry,’’ he
stated.
On
his part, the MTN Senior manager, MTN Regulatory Affairs and
Corporate Relations, representative, Johnson Oyewo dismissed the
position of 0Mobile and Airtel, saying that their positions were
based on presumptions and lack of data to suggest what they were
saying.
He
said the desire for the acquisition of the 800MHz spectrum from
Visafone by MTN was not driven by selfishness but to expand its
network and to help the country achieve its 30% broadband coverage by
end of 2018.
To
Oyewo, MTN was on trial because of its insatiable appetite for
investment in every segment of the telecom industry.
‘‘We
want to expand our network to the rural areas and that is the
advantage the 800MHz has to a long distant with less resources. We
want to help the Rural Telephony Project, at large it is Nigeria that
will benefit from it.
‘‘This
is in line with broadband objective of Nigeria. With this
transaction, MTN can leapfrog towards the 30% broadband target. We
see a greater good. We urge the Commission that this assessment
should not only be based on competition but also on the interest of
the consumer as well and economic objective of the economy because if
we invest, what that translate is that there will be a
direct impact on the GDP,’’ Oyewo added.
The
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta had
earlier in his opening speech told the audience that the public
enquiry was meant to gather informed contributions from stakeholders
that would lead the Commission take informed decision consistent
with its mandate to create an enabling environment for
effective competition in the industry as well to
ensure the provision of qualitative and efficient
telecommunications services throughout the country.
‘‘The
Commission seeks your active participation in the deliberations that
would lead to an informed decision consistent with our mandate.
‘‘AS
you may be aware, the demand for spectrum has increased due to
emergence of disruptive innovations such as Mobile broadband, web
Applications, Cloud Computing (CC)., Internet of Things (IoT) and the
proliferation of smart devices amongst others.”
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