The National Communications Authority (NCA), has accused MTN Ghana of violating rules regarding its status as a significant market power (SMP) by launching its affordable Data Zone bundles without the regulator’s approval.
Director-General of NCA, Joe Anokye revealed this to journalists when he took his turn at the Minister of Information’s Meet-The-Press series, chaired by information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
It would be recalled that recently MTN Ghana was compelled by the NCA to suspend its affordable Data Zone bundles because the market leader was under a regulatory obligation not to have the lowest prices on the market due to its SMP status.
Also Read: MTN suspends Data Zone bundle due to SMP status
The declaration of MTN as SMP in June 2020 was because, according to the government, the company had held over 75% market share of the entire telecoms industry for several years, in terms of voice, data, mobile money and revenue. The SMP declaration was therefore meant to correct the market imbalance and allow the smaller players to also be competitive.
In that respect, one of the seven key regulatory interventions was for MTN to review prices of all of its products and services to match the offerings of the smaller players, and also to seek the express approval of the NCA before rolling out any packages to its customers.
Indeed, part of that particular rule is for the NCA to see the offerings of MTN and compare them to what the other telcos are offering so they could make a determination whether to approve MTN’s packages or not. If MTN’s packages are found to be too difficult for the smaller players to compete fairly, the regulator is likely to prevent MTN from going ahead with it. Where there is no competing product from other players the NCA may approve the product if the rate is reasonable.
Meanwhile, The SMP rules also require MTN not to have different prices for off-net and on-net calls so there is no incentive for their large customer base not to call other networks
But According to the Director-General of NCA, Joe Anokye, MTN introduced its Data Zone bundles after it had been named SMP but did not seek the express permission of the NCA.
He said since that was the first time MTN had violated the SMP rules in two years, they have been cautioned, but the company has been informed that the next time they violate the rules again there will be sanctions.
Revised Data Zone coming soon
The NCA boss also stated that MTN has now submitted its Data Zone packages with revised prices which are in line with the regulatory requirement, so the company is likely to reintroduce the package soon to customers.
Meanwhile, in response to a question about how the declaration of MTN as SMP has helped to correct the market imbalance, the NCA boss showed a pie chart, which rather indicated that between December 2019 and February 2023, MTN has grown its market share from 55% to 67%, while the other telcos have rather lost market share significantly.
Joe Anokye then indicated that one of the SMP rules is for other telcos to pay 30% less interconnect fees than MTN and that leaves them with some money to invest, but was quick to note that it is up to the other telcos to take advantage of the regulatory environment created by the SMP interventions to invest and grow.
Also Read: MTN still rising in spite of SMP constraints, as others still fall
Indeed, all industry figures now indicate that MTN keeps growing in leaps and bounds on all fronts, while the other telcos keep dwindling in spite of the SMP interventions.
