Ghana's two leading telecommunications providers are involved in a dispute. The two companies are Scancom – operators of the Areeba GSM network – and Ghana Telecom – operators of Ghana's largest fixed line network and ONEtouch GSM cellular network.
The dispute began on October 19 when Scancom threatened to block interconnection with Ghana Telecom in Kumasi. The threat was made through a letter to acting Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Major J.R.K Tandoh. Scancom accused Ghana Telecom of routing ONEtouch traffic in Kumasi to Scancom through the E1 lines designated for fixed network traffic only.
In the letter, Scancom wrote, "We would like to draw your attention that during the month of September, Ghana Telecom routed 3,552,854 minutes on behalf of ONEtouch on the interconnections E1s designated to fixed network traffic in Accra and Kumasi".
The letter went on, "We regret to inform you that no action has been taken on this matter and Monday, October 24, 2005 to come, if Ghana Telecom continues such an illegal practice, we find ourselves obliged to block our interconnection with Ghana Telecom in Kumasi".
As a result, ONEtouch GSM sent a text message to all its subscribers, reading, "Areeba is restricting our calls and has threatened to block all calls from ONEtouch and GT on Monday. Please bear with us while we fix the problem".
After a meeting with the regulator and the two operators on Monday, the Director-General of the NCA said, "We will not hesitate to sanction any operator who attempts to block calls from one network to another.”
He added, "I told Areeba that it was not right to threaten to block calls, while I told Ghana Telecom it had no right to create panic and I hope they all understand."
Source: mobileafrica.net - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News |