MTC vows to challenge CRAN infrastructure-sharing directive

WINDHOEK - Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) has vowed to challenge CRAN’s decision that directs the company to share its infrastructure with South African competitor, MTN.

In a statement issued this weekend, MTC indicated that they will file a reconsideration application. “We have engaged an independent consultant to study our network, and provide an opinion on capacity.

We know from experience based on our network intelligence and feedback from our customers that they struggle with congestion, and burdening our network with another operator will severely compromise our customer service promise,” stated MTC’s Chief Human Capital & Corporate Affairs Officer, Tim Ekandjo,

“The question whether an operator has enough capacity to host national roaming is common. To enable this infrastructuresharing, MTC would have to invest more in its network. You can host anything, including a national roaming agreement. The question is, how much more must you invest, and is there a reasonable business case to support these incremental investments?”he questioned.

He also explained that MTC considers its obligation to share infrastructure whenever it rolls out new sites, and approached all operators to co-build, including MTN, who he stated was not interested in taking up the offer. This, he noted, is a clear sign that MTN has no interest in investing in its own infrastructure.

Chief Operations Officer at CRAN Jochen Traut, recently said he was concerned with infrastructure- sharing in Namibia, noting a lot of duplication in infrastructure which comes at a high cost. He added that the second Harambee Prosperity Plan opens access to sharing.

According to Traut, driving economic growth will require the implementation of some basic policies. In this regard, he specifically pointed out infrastructure- sharing, which he said is a prerequisite to try and make the usage of data and the internet affordable in Namibia.