Subscriber group petitions GSM operators over alleged anti-competitive activities

by Isi Esene

A consumer advocacy group wants Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to investigate alleged anti-competitive conducts by Airtel, Glo and MTN, Nigeria’s three major GSM operators.

The advocacy group named, Consumers Empowerment Organization of Nigeria urged the NCC to investigate and determine if the named GSM service providers engage in what it described as “concerted  practices”.

The letter, signed by Adedeji Babatunde, coordinator of the group, and addressed to the commission’s executive vice chairman, Eugene Juwah, seeks to find out whether the operators abuse their dominant positions in the market for access to 2G and 2.5G mobile network infrastructure by discriminating in the provision of access to their mobile network infrastructure to competing MCSPs.

According to reports, the group pointed out in the petition that such discriminatory conduct by the mentioned GSM operators is capable of distorting competition in the Mobile Content Applications space through constraining the choice of consumers as well as retarding innovation.

The CEON went further to urge the NCC to invoke Section 1 of the Competition Practice Regulation 2007 under which the commission is expected to issue a written notice to the parties, identifying whether it will take action, the specific action to be taken, and the basis for its decision within thirty days of submission of the complaint by CEON.

The last has certainly not been heard about this battle for Nigeria’s mobile market-space.

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