By: Lansana Fofanah
Sierra Leone is a country that is governed by rule of law, therefore the conduct of everyone or institution must be in conformity with laid down principles. Any action contrary to that, deserves to be condemned entirely.
The Telecom industry in Sierra Leone is no exception to that; hence the need for it to be regulated by the National Telecommunications Authority (NaTCA) with a clear mandate to regulate the activities of Mobile Network Operators.
As a regulatory body, NaTCA should approve whatever decision that has to be taken by those MNOs following a consultative meeting with the public. Without that, it becomes an act of gangsterism and fraud.
But this is no longer applicable with Orange SL and Africell SL.
The recent unannounced increase tariff on the weekly data bundle from Le60 to Le100, by both Africell and Orange is a disrespect to the law and the people of Sierra Leone amidst poor services and fluctuating networks.
That act alone has limited majority of Sierra Leoneans to communicate since they cannot afford it.
They have done this in the past, only for NaTCA to reverse their decisions which is a total affront to the law.
Sadly, their lack of respect for the law and the people of Sierra Leone is becoming unbearable. All these actions are done without notice to the public.
At the height of the fuel crisis, they hurriedly pushed for a 150% increase in all their services, citing fuel cost, dollar rate and a plan to capacitate their networks.
Their services became poor even after that in Freetown.
Now that everything seems to be calm, they still want to push for more.
Understandably, every government remains committed to creating an enabling business environment for foreign direct investment to thrive, but definitely not at the detriment of the masses.
How long can NaTCA continue to be baby-sitting these foreign direct investments whose sole aim is to maximize profit without any recourse to the law?
While Q Cell has been the obedient kid in the sector, Orange and Africell continues to look for avenues to justify further increase at a time when we have a stable inflation and a regulated dollar rate to the Leone.
If Q-Cell could comfortably sell 2Mbps at 60 Leone per week, why should Africell and Orange cry for more increment when they have the largest subscribers countrywide?
Are they insinuating that Q cell is not paying taxes or other obligations to the state?.
On several occasions, Q Cell has been forced to adopt a floor price against its principles.
Since the imposition of fines doesn’t seem to tame these companies, it is prudent for their operational licenses to be suspended so that they will start taking NaTCA seriously.
Enough Is Enough!
News 24 publication
