Samuel Dowuona, the Managing Director of TechGh24.com, has raised concerns over the regulator’s focus on financial capacity and motivation as its main criterion in awarding a 5G licensing agreement to NextGen Infraco.
Discussing the approval of the contract awarded to NextGen Infraco, a company formed just a week prior, Dowuona explained that the regulator seems to be focused solely on companies with substantial financial resources, neglecting the overall growth of the market.
He highlighted the absence of a competitive market in the 5G deal. “I also made a point in my article that we have, more or less, a monster in the market. The last time we had the show, I told you that the regulator is to be blamed. The regulator thinks to follow the money now, instead of doing what will make the entire market grow together.
“They follow the money, and whoever has the money, they just follow the money, and that is where we have landed now. If we still go back to following money, it’s going to be a bit worrisome.
“Even if it means creating another monster, just to keep one monster in check, over a certain period of time, then we can talk about how we can even restructure this wholesale thing,” Dowuona said in a report on Citinewsroom.com.
He questioned the regulator’s rationale behind giving NextGen Infraco a monopoly over Ghana’s developing 5G market.
He explained, “We can’t say that because others failed to invest, and so they are now far behind, we should also sit down and allow the market to run in such a way that one day we end up in a monopoly. We can’t do that. Once there’s Significant Market Power (SMP) in the market, we also need to begin doing things in a certain way to acknowledge that there’s an SMP.
“We can’t just go ahead and auction licenses when we know very well that we’re going to end up in a situation where only one player is going to be buying the license…like every player starting to roll out 5G at the same time.
“The small wing is important; it means we’re taking steps to correct the market imbalances. So long as we have SMP in the market, we shouldn’t be doing things we did in the past. Otherwise, we’re not going to correct the market imbalances.”
EAN/OGB
Source: www.ghanaweb.com