The NEWS (Monrovia)
Benjamin B. Sworh
9 May 2008
Monrovia — Four GSM operators have made a passionate appeal to the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) for dialogue over the standardization of their licenses.
The GSM operators said although recent decision taken by LTA requesting them to standardize their licenses was unfair, however, they have decided to dialogue with LTA in order to find an amicable solution.
Comium's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Monie Captan made the appeal Thursday when the Senate Standing Committee on Posts and Telecommunications invited the four GSM Companies to acquaint the lawmakers with the LTA standardization request.
Mr. Captan informed the Senate Committee that they were granted legitimate licenses to operate in the country, but was surprised to be requested by the LTA to standardize their documents.
Captan, a former Foreign Minister of Liberia who spoke on behalf of the four GSM Operators, said LTA was demanding US$100,000 from each of the companies as processing fees.
According to him, beside the US$100,000, LTA was requesting all GSM operators to pay US$5 million as their contribution toward the national budget.
He said the four GSM companies have already paid US$10 million as taxes for 2006/07; therefore, they see no reason why additional US$5 million should be paid by the GSM operators as their contribution toward the national budget.
Following hours of deliberations, members of the Senate Standing Committee on Posts and Telecommunications requested the four GSM operators to submit documents detailing their concerns to the body.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
