Malawi: Competition Commission fines Airtel $ 2.5 million for abusing its customers
September 30th 2021
After more than a year of investigation, the competition policeman has succeeded in defining the responsibilities of Airtel Malawi, following the complaint filed by consumers in September 2020.
The Malawi Competition and Fair Trade Commission (CFTC) has fined the mobile operator Airtel Malawi 2,113,099,660 Malawian kwacha (over $ 2.5 million). Through the sanction unveiled on Wednesday, September 29, the CFTC accuses the telecoms company of ” unreasonable conduct ” which resulted in the deception of subscribers on the Khethekhethe Bonus product.
According to the Khethekhethe Bonus regulations launched in September 2014 by Airtel Malawi, the customer who reaches a threshold of 1000 kwacha in voice communication in a month, benefits from a communication time bonus. In the past, the bonus was automatically credited to eligible customer accounts. But subsequently, this was no longer done. Subscribers now had to claim it every 14th of the month at the risk of losing it after the 15th.
For the CFTC, which considers that the bonus credited to consumers is earned and not offered as a gift, Airtel Malawi has engaged in unfair and unreasonable behavior by modifying the conditions of access to the bonus without announcing it in a way that disadvantages consumers. The CFCT indicates that if Airtel Malawi were in good faith, the bonus would have continued to be granted to subscribers by being automatically credited to accounts as in the past.
Airtel Malawi’s sanction follows recurring complaints from consumers in 2020. On September 20, the CFTC officially opened an investigation into the matter. On March 26, 2021, officials of the mobile operator appeared before the Commission to explain. They had justified the failure of customers to access the bonus by network problems.
Further investigations carried out by the CFTC finally showed that this was not the case and that Airtel Malawi had acted according to its interests, thus violating section 43 (1) (g) of the Competition Fair Trading Act (CFTA ) which provides that one “must not, vis-à-vis a consumer, engage in unreasonable conduct in the trade of goods and services”.
The 2.5 million USD fine to be paid by Airtel Malawi represents the financial gain generated by the infringement. The CFTC did not say whether the amount will be paid into the national treasury or refunded to consumers.
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