Monrovia — The Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to both Lonestar MTN and Orange Liberia, compelling each to pay a fine of $300,000.
Accordingly, the LTA said the fines are based on four counts of serious regulatory violations -- including a floor price violation and the refusal to submit critical data with revenue implications.
The floor price is a regulatory intervention tool used to stabilize a declining market by setting a minimum price.
Addressing the media at the Ministry of Information press briefing Thursday, acting chairperson of the LTA, Abdullah Kamara, said in 2019, it was employed to set a minimum consumer package price for both data and voice services to mitigate price wars between providers.
He explained that both companies were engaging in a competitive strategy, which aimed to attract more consumers by offering more minutes per dollar than their competitors at prices lower than the market standard.
Kamara said that the violation led to both providers unable to expand their networks and towers were being decommissioned nationwide and the laying off of employees.
He said that the floor price intervention stabilized the sector, an increment in revenue, and providers were able to expand their networks and become more innovative.
Said Kamara, "A shrinking telecom landscape. It's called predatory pricing." It looked good to consumers but it led to too much traffic on the networks, too many dropped calls and generally poor quality of service and revenue was on a sharp decline."
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He disclosed, "What has been happening over the last year or so, however, is a slow return to pre-floor price offerings and once again we are experiencing a sharp deadline in the market and government revenue capacity. This is not good."
He added, "The MNO's are fully aware their actions are a direct cause of this disruption in the market. The LTA has previously called them and urged them to slowly introduce packages within the floor price metric. They have not. The Board of Commissioners has reviewed the situation and determined to penalize."
He, however, indicated that other issues that have compounded the LTA action was cross border connectivity, stressing that Orange Liberia has a cross border connectivity license with the lvory Coast which they acquired from the LTA in violation of their License.
According to him, the company used the service during the March internet disruption and still have it at their disposal. He said their acquisition of that temporary License was not through a written communication, therefore violates the LTA regulation.
"LTA discovered three new unreported links belonging to Orange, two international and one local. The LTA has not been informed by Orange and this too is in direct violation of their license. Data collection from these links cannot be verified unless they are indeed reported and permission is granted in writing from the LTA," he said.
Adding, "These violations are grave and compromise our ability to monitor the sector effectively. We hope these fines will curb these actions immediately."
