Monrovia — The Liberia telecommunications Authority (LTA) has issued an order equalizing frequency allocations for all GSM operators in Liberia.

The decision is aimed at leveling the playing field for all telecommunications service providers operating in the telecom sector.

The details of the re-allocation of the frequencies involved will be subsequently made available to the service providers concerned and published for the benefit of the public.

The LTA Board of Commissioners issued the order on Wednesday, September 2, 2008, following nearly eight months of painstaking, but deadlocked negotiations with the four existing mobile phone operations.

The LTA's action is informed by the relevant provisions of the Telecommunications Act (2007) which mandates the independent national regulator to standardize licenses and harmonize frequencies of all telecom service providers which had been operating prior to the Telecom Act.

A release said the move is part of an overall sector reform undertaken by the Government of Liberia in collaboration with local stakeholders and international partners, including the World Bank.

Meanwhile, the LTA wishes to advise all concerned to cooperate with the LTA and the Government of Liberia as they strive to timely correct the anomalies and imbalances that have continued to characterize the lopsided telecommunications landscape of the country, thereby depriving the government and people of Liberia of the maximum benefits that accrue to the country's telecom sector.