CRAN holds hearing on fair competition
Participants in the telecommunications sector are being urged to compete with each other fairly.
STAFF REPORTER
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) recently hosted a public consultative meeting pertaining to regulations to provide for the promotion of fair competition of telecommunication services, and enforcement and penalty guidelines.
“The competition regulations will apply to the telecommunications markets, namely the fixed and mobile call termination market, wired end user access market, national data transmission market, and wireless end user access markets” said Festus Mbandeka, CEO of CRAN.
He added that CRAN must ensure that open and fair competition is encouraged in relevant markets within the telecommunications sector.
The purposes of the intended competition regulations are to provide a regulatory framework for the promotion of fair competition and the protection against anti-competitive practices in the telecommunications sector, to induce licensees to become more efficient in order to offer a greater choice of products and services at lower prices and to ensure that licensees exercise market power with due regard to consumer welfare and overall industry performance and not to abuse their market power.
Furthermore, the regulations would ensure that essential facilities are available to competitors of licensees on reasonable terms, ensure competitive outcomes in order to enhance consumer welfare and make provision for tariff application and review and promote consumer protection in the telecommunications sector.
The enforcement and penalty guidelines seek to formulate enforcement guidelines, which will specifically focus on the manner in which investigations and inspections are conducted, how penalties are imposed in respect of offences prohibited in terms of the Communications Act and the manner in which hearings are conducted.
Mbandeka said the guidelines would set a framework that would direct CRAN on what it needed to investigate, and a prioritisation framework that would be used to decide whether or not CRAN should open or continue with an investigation.
The guidelines do not cover complaints from individual consumers, as they are already handled in terms of the regulations regarding procedures for the adjudication of disputes.
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) recently hosted a public consultative meeting pertaining to regulations to provide for the promotion of fair competition of telecommunication services, and enforcement and penalty guidelines.
“The competition regulations will apply to the telecommunications markets, namely the fixed and mobile call termination market, wired end user access market, national data transmission market, and wireless end user access markets” said Festus Mbandeka, CEO of CRAN.
He added that CRAN must ensure that open and fair competition is encouraged in relevant markets within the telecommunications sector.
The purposes of the intended competition regulations are to provide a regulatory framework for the promotion of fair competition and the protection against anti-competitive practices in the telecommunications sector, to induce licensees to become more efficient in order to offer a greater choice of products and services at lower prices and to ensure that licensees exercise market power with due regard to consumer welfare and overall industry performance and not to abuse their market power.
Furthermore, the regulations would ensure that essential facilities are available to competitors of licensees on reasonable terms, ensure competitive outcomes in order to enhance consumer welfare and make provision for tariff application and review and promote consumer protection in the telecommunications sector.
The enforcement and penalty guidelines seek to formulate enforcement guidelines, which will specifically focus on the manner in which investigations and inspections are conducted, how penalties are imposed in respect of offences prohibited in terms of the Communications Act and the manner in which hearings are conducted.
Mbandeka said the guidelines would set a framework that would direct CRAN on what it needed to investigate, and a prioritisation framework that would be used to decide whether or not CRAN should open or continue with an investigation.
The guidelines do not cover complaints from individual consumers, as they are already handled in terms of the regulations regarding procedures for the adjudication of disputes.
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