Telecoms chamber calls for independent arbiter

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) is calling for what it described as an independent technical arbiter to determine the accuracy of the issues about the poor quality of service rendered to subscribers of telecom services in the country as raised by the National Telecommunications Authority (NCA).

The call comes in the wake of the 24-hour ultimatum issued by the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, on the telecom companies to pay up the GH¢1.2 million penalties imposed on them by the industry regulator or face stiffer sanctions.

The Chief Executive of the GCT, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, made the call shortly after the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, formally launched the chamber at a ceremony in Accra.

According to Mr Sakyi-Addo, “whenever there are disputes between two parties, there is the need for an independent arbiter.”

He added that “so in this case because they are problems over the measurements or disagreements over the technical measurements of the quality of service it will be a good idea to have the technical arbiter to make a decision or help us reach some decision”.

After imposing a penalty on the five operating telecom companies in the country for poor quality service, only three of the telecom companies, MTN, tiGO and Airtel, have paid up to GH¢300,000 as of the time of going to press while Vodafone and Expresso were yet to pay.

It was against this background that the sector minister used the occasion to reiterate a stem warning to the recalcitrant telecom companies to pay the penalty or face sanction according to the Jaw governing the industry.

He had mentioned at a consumer forum in Tamale that the government would not sit for the industry regulator to be taken for granted.

When asked whether the chamber and the telecom companies had formally been informed about the ultimatum, Mr Sakyi-Addo said “We have not officially been notified.

“The issue about the payment of the penalties within the ultimatum will be addressed,” he said in a response to questions about whether the telecom companies would pay the penalty of not.

On whether NCA is getting too tough, Mr Sakyi-Addo said “it is the responsibility of the regulator to be tough. We do not have a problem with the toughness but when there are disagreements, we think that the problems that are faced in the industry need a bit of greater attention across board not just the regulator but with the policy maker which is the Ministry of Communications as well and operators all working together to address the issues”.

Earlier in his address, he outlined a number of challenges that the telecom companies faced in the discharge of their obligations and noted that all these affected the quality of service.

These, he said, were cable theft, destruction of the telecom cable by road contractors, reluctance of residents to have telephone masts mounted within their vicinity and the exorbitant charges from the various assemblies, among many other things.

He called on the authorities to address the challenges while the telecom companies also worked frantically to resolve other outstanding matters to have the issues resolved.

The Vice-President, for his part, said “Over the last two decades, the telecommunications industry has undergone tremendous transformations and has offered immense contribution to the national economy,” he said.

“Having said that there remains a lot of work that needs to be done within the next few years. Currently, the industry is dominated by voice. Voice accounts for 93 per cent of revenues; five per cent comes from text, and only two per cent from data,” he added.

Vice-President Mahama said that provided a lot of room for investment and further growth, which would yield direct, social and economic benefits to the people and improve quality of life.

He consequently called on the chamber, the telecom companies, the regulator and the ministry to meet with the various assemblies to address the issue of the charges imposed on the telecom companies when they mounted masts and other services in the country.

Mr Iddrisu, who used most of his time allotted him to respond to the concerns of the chamber, said the government was committed to pursuing a policy that would ensure the transformation of the country into a knowledge-based place.

“I urge the chamber to collaborate well with the NCA to deploy strategies aimed at promoting competitive service delivery to enable consumers to have value for money for their service,” he said.