MTN to address MPs with its ‘back to the wall’
Mobile operator says it is unfair to force the opening of its network to competitors at prescribed rates
MTN plans to tell parliament on Thursday it would be unfair to force the mobile operator to open up its network to competitors at prescribed rates. The government is holding public hearings this week on the contentious Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, according to which a service provider with “significant market power”, or at least 25% of SA’s network infrastructure, has to share its infrastructure with competitors. While MTN and Vodacom already do this through roaming agreements with smaller players, the caveat is that the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will prescribe the “cost-oriented” rates these operators can charge their rivals, according to the bill. “We’re going to parliament on Thursday with our backs against the wall because we feel strongly about what they’re doing around us being forced to open up our infrastructure at cost,” said MTN’s CEO for SA, Godfrey Motsa. “We want to open our infrastructure, but it should be through commercially agre...
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