Date Of Article: 3/19/2003
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Phone rates to go up April 1
By: Aubrey Mchulu
Telephone subscribers will have to pay more for talking on both fixed and mobile phones from April 1, 2003 when the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra)-designed interconnection fees among operators come into effect. Macra Director General Evans Namanja told journalists Wednesday that the interconnection agreement, which entails phone operators sharing proceeds for handling every call connected to another network, will replace the current sender-keeps-all arrangement which he observed contributed to traffic congestion from mobile to fixed network and vice-versa. “With this [interconnection] arrangement, we should see some change and improvements in terms of traffic flow. We anticipate free flow of traffic between the networks now that the operators will share the proceeds,” said Namanja. Namanja said following the interconnection agreement, approved by the Macra board on November 7, 2002, the Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) will be paying an extra US$0.08 (about K7.28) per minute for every call made to either of the mobile networks—Telekom Networks Malawi Limited (TNM) or Celtel Malawi Limited. On the other hand, TNM and Celtel will be paying MTL an extra US$0.05 (about K4.55) per minute for calls made to the fixed MTL network while calls from one mobile network to another will cost US$0.08 (K7.28) per minute, said Namanja comparing the interconnection fees to toll fees. Sources within the phone operators said the interconnection fees will be charged among the companies but observed that at the end of the day the operators will have to adjust the rates charged to subscribers to recover the costs. True to the sources’ indications, TNM has already announced an upward adjustment in rates to MTL and Celtel networks, according to an announcement published in the media on Wednesday. But Namanja said according to the Macra ruling, calls made within a particular network should not attract the interconnection fee hence the tariff should not change. Macra’s decision of last November came after the operators failed to chart the way forward on the arrangement within the two-year deadline that expired last May. Celtel in June 2000 obtained a court injunction against a Macra ruling of May 3, 2000 that Celtel, TNM and MTL should stop pushing the fee to customers arguing that Macra has no authority to order the lowering of tariffs. In March 2001, differences between TNM and Celtel culminated in hostile measures that prevented cellphone users from connecting to another network. Meanwhile, in response to a question on what is happening to Malawi Mobile Networks, the third cellular operator licenced last year, Namanja quoted the company’s directors as saying subscribers will have the dial tone by October this year. He said Malawi Mobile is also a party to the interconnection fees agreement. Namanja said mobile network operators require a minimum start-up capital of US$20 million while the masts or towers for network coverage cost about US$250,000 each.
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