[ 2012-04-23 ]

George Andah is the Chief Operating Officer of Glo Mobile Ghana

NCA fines Glo Mobile $200,000 for failing to launch
Glo Mobile Ghana has been sanctioned to pay an
amount of $200,000 for its failure to launch on
the stipulated date of April 20, 2012.

The sanction was confirmed by the Communications
Minister Haruna Iddrisu, who said: “Glo has no
justification not to launch onto the Ghanaian
market.”

He added: “The Ghanaian subscribers and consumers
anticipating their service can no longer wait.”

The regulator, the National Communications
Authority (NCA), gave Glo Ghana up to the end of
April to launch or face sanctions ranging from
payment of a fine to the withdrawal of its
license.

Mr. Iddrisu said Glo Mobile had initially
expressed some concerns which they said were
hindering them from launching, but Mr. Haruna
indicated that “they were required to roll out in
at least six regions of Ghana and to be fair to
them there were some initial hitches to which
government in itself through its actions
contributed, we resolved those issues and Glo has
no justification for not launching.”

Glo Mobile Ghana, a subsidiary of Globacom
International - a Nigerian-based telecom giant is
the sixth mobile operator, licensed to operate in
Ghana but has continually postponed the launch of
its operations for almost five years now.

Glo earlier this year launched its number
reservation facility which enables the public to
reserve their numbers on the 023-3 number series
on the Glo Mobile Ghana Network.

Speaking on Joy FM on Monday, the Communications
Minister said: “Government accordingly licensed
the sixth mobile operator as part of government’s
quest to deepen competition in the
telecommunication industry. It thus appears that
Glo Mobile is unable to meet some requirements
which was part of the Glo Mobile cellular license
framework.

“Spectrum space is an asset of the State so
accordingly I can confirm to you that the NCA has
issued a sanction that Glo Mobile will be required
to pay US$ 200, 000 or its equivalent in cedis for
failing to provide service at least to six regions
within the first three years that they got their
license.”

He added: “They assured to roll out April 20. They
must take Ghanaian subscribers serious and we need
their service to expand access to telecom.
Investors must respect the laws of our country. We
have been hesitant to have gone this far, but we
ultimately must ensure that we deepen competition
as we pledged.”

Source - Citifmonline

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