Windhoek
The Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) has accused the country’s largest cellular service provider, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), of discriminatory practices that penalise the lower income segments of the market.
The allegation stems from MTC’s new proposed data tariffs, which are currently running as a promotional offer, that have yet to be approved by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN).
“The proposed tariffs are discriminatory in nature and unfairly penalise the lowest income earners and will make the data usage eight times more expensive than for the data charged to the high-end market user,” claims NCPG’s executive director Milton Louw. The NCPG has therefore requested CRAN to host public hearings on MTC’S new Netman products, specifically Netman Turboboost tariffs as published in the Government Gazette of December 24, 2015.
In a letter to CRAN, Louw points out that MTC proposes to charge N$179 per month for two gigabyte of data, which translates to a cost of N$89.50 per gigabyte. On the other end of the spectrum, MTC’s top-end “Unlimited” package costs N$999 per month for 90 gigabyte of data, translating into a cost of N$11.10 per gigabyte. “Data costs are sold at a profit, so assuming the N$11.10 per gigabyte is already making a profit, why is MTC making an additional N$78.40 per gigabyte off the lowest income earners?” questions Louw. Responding to the allegations, MTC’s chief human capital and corporate affairs officer, Tim Ekandjo, said the company is aware of the NCPG’s claim and the fact that the issue has been raised as an objection with CRAN.
In terms of due process, the NCPG will submit their comments to CRAN which will in turn share such with MTC before ruling on the matter.
“We have not yet received comments from CRAN and will attend to the matter when we do. Kindly be advised that the said tariff on the product has not been approved by CRAN yet and is currently still running as a promotion until such time that approval is given by CRAN. Since they have raised their objection with the regulator, we would like to respect that process and allow CRAN to deal with the matter,” said Ekandjo.