MTC, CRAN butt heads in court again
Iréne-Mari van der WaltWindhoek
Despite the Supreme Court agreeing with a High Court ruling against a Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) increase on telecommunications providers’ gross income at the end of last year, an industry battle involving the authority is in court again.In a review application to the High Court, MTC has argued that CRAN unjustifiably ordered it to share its infrastructure with competitor MTN.
According to the telecommunications giant’s founding statement, CRAN can order it to share its infrastructure with another provider if it encourages healthy competition in the sector, but the authority’s “unspecified request” is not permissible under the applicable law.
“This law does not take overarching requests into account, which makes assessing its extent difficult. The parties affected by this must be given the opportunity to assess whether such a request also involves property elements,” Patience Kanalelo of MTC’s legal department said.
In the statement, MTC said CRAN highlighted that it has the “spare capacity” to share its infrastructure without affecting the quality of its services or placing an unreasonable burden on the company.
Opposing application
While MTC believes CRAN is entitled to demand that they make specific parts of their infrastructure available to MTN, the telecommunications company added that CRAN is not allowed to demand that the wider MTC network be shared with MTN.
“While the use of certain elements of the network may be mandated to other providers, the law does not provide for overarching requests that require the entire network to be shared with other parties,” it said.
CRAN is only expected to deliver its answering statement next month, but its lawyer, Sisa Namandje, has already informed the court that the authority intends to oppose MTC’s application.
Despite the Supreme Court agreeing with a High Court ruling against a Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) increase on telecommunications providers’ gross income at the end of last year, an industry battle involving the authority is in court again.In a review application to the High Court, MTC has argued that CRAN unjustifiably ordered it to share its infrastructure with competitor MTN.
According to the telecommunications giant’s founding statement, CRAN can order it to share its infrastructure with another provider if it encourages healthy competition in the sector, but the authority’s “unspecified request” is not permissible under the applicable law.
“This law does not take overarching requests into account, which makes assessing its extent difficult. The parties affected by this must be given the opportunity to assess whether such a request also involves property elements,” Patience Kanalelo of MTC’s legal department said.
In the statement, MTC said CRAN highlighted that it has the “spare capacity” to share its infrastructure without affecting the quality of its services or placing an unreasonable burden on the company.
Opposing application
While MTC believes CRAN is entitled to demand that they make specific parts of their infrastructure available to MTN, the telecommunications company added that CRAN is not allowed to demand that the wider MTC network be shared with MTN.
“While the use of certain elements of the network may be mandated to other providers, the law does not provide for overarching requests that require the entire network to be shared with other parties,” it said.
CRAN is only expected to deliver its answering statement next month, but its lawyer, Sisa Namandje, has already informed the court that the authority intends to oppose MTC’s application.
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