Selorm Adadevoh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana, has expressed concerns raised by the company’s foreign investors over the declaration of MTN Ghana being a Significant Market Player (SMP).
Speaking in a virtual annual stakeholder forum with journalists and industry stakeholders in Accra, Mr Adadevoh noted that the declaration of MTN Ghana being a SMP had become a source of worry for investors.
“About 70 per cent of our investors are foreigners and they have been calling us since the SMP declaration was made. Foreign investors usually go where there is stability and so anything that signals a potential risk to their investments create problems for everybody,” he said.
“We have however, reassured our investors that we are pursuing all available avenues to ensure their investments are safe,” he added.
The SMP declaration
The telecommunication giant in June this year was declared an SMP by the National Communications Authority (NCA) due to its huge subscriber base and market revenue share.
The Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) states that the National Communications Authority (NCA) reserves the right to establish what constitutes an SMP, but where the NCA has not made any such determination, any player holding at least 40 per cent market share will be deemed as an SMP.
MTN after few years of its entry into the Ghanaian market is reported to have captured over 40 per cent of the market. The NCA upon the declaration of MTN as a SMP issued a notice to MTN on some remedies it intends to implement to ‘correct the imbalance’ created in the market.
Judicial Review
But MTN accused the NCA of procedural breaches in naming it a SMP and in implementing the remedies while discussion was still ongoing and sought for a judicial review at the High Court. The High Court however, dismissed the case on the grounds that MTN was not able to prove the NCA had committed any illegality.
Following its failure at the High Court, MTN has now applied to highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, saying that its concerns still remain unaddressed and it believes the apex court will bring finality to the matter and set a precedent.
Amicable option
The MTN Ghana boss said, while MTN seeks redress in the apex court, it is also engaging with the appropriate stakeholders with the hope that they will reach an amicable solution preferred by all parties.
“We are still talking to the key stakeholders on the matter and if we reach an amicable solution, we will opt for that than to keep pursuing the issue legally,” he said.
Corporate Services Executive for MTN Ghana, Sam Koranteng said it was a difficult decision for MTN to go to the apex court, but they hope an amicable solution would soon be reached between them and the NCA.
