Namibia: CRAN, MTC end ten-year levy dispute
June 20th 2022
Namibia’s market-leading cellco Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) has reached a settlement agreement with the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), ending a ten-year dispute over the legality of regulatory levies for the period 31 March 2016 to 11 June 2018. MTC’s recently released interim financial statement noted that, following a High Court ruling on the licence regime, ‘the matter has been settled with the regulator for an amount of NAD70 million (USD4.36 million), which has been accrued in full in the results for the period ending 31 March 2022’. The agreement comes after MTC and other industry players challenged section 23 of the Communications Act in the High Court in 2012 to determine to the constitutionality of the fees enforced by CRAN.
‘The parties have been engaged in negotiations over an extensive period and CRAN is pleased to announce that the matter is now settled amicably. Consequently, the parties also agreed to withdraw all cases pending between them in the High Court,’ read a statement issued by the regulator last week. According to CRAN Chief Executive Emilia Nghikembua, the settlement is a pivotal step in restoring a harmonious working relationship between the two institutions to benefit information and communication technology consumers. ‘We are particularly pleased that we can now jointly focus on promoting technological innovation and the deployment of advanced facilities and services in order to support the social and economic growth of Namibia,’ she added.
MTC has recently been at loggerheads with the regulator over several issues, including the issuing of a telecommunications service licence to the City of Windhoek in 2020, which the telco claimed was ‘anti-competitive’ and contrary to the Communications Act and the Competitions Act. CRAN, meanwhile, had claimed that the telco owed NAD300 million in unpaid services levies.
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