MTN, SPTC dispute not over

MBABANE – Swazi MTN and the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) could be headed for yet for another collision course.

SPTC says it will not switch off its popular Fixedfone while MTN insists it must be switched off immediately.

The mobile phone service provider says SPTC should fully comply with the judgment issued by the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) last week.

The fresh conflict stems from the interpretation of the judgment on a matter where MTN had filed a complaint over what was termed as an infringement of some terms of the Joint Venture Agreement signed by the two entities. MTN’s interpretation of the judgment was that the fixedfone forms part of SPTC’s mobile telephony facilities which the ICA made a ruling that they should be terminated.

The company insists that SPTC must fully comply with the judgment and totally cease all its mobile telephony facilities.

Responding to a questionnaire from the Times SUNDAY on Friday, Mpumelelo Makhubu the Corporate Affairs Manager at Swazi MTN said his company released an official position on this matter in a statement on Thursday which contained the judgment of the ICA.

According to the statement SPTC, was ordered to terminate forthwith its mobile component for any telephony network.

An excerpt of the judgment as published by MTN reads: "SPTC is ordered to terminate forthwith the mobile component of any telephony network and service operated by it (be it mobile data services or functions in competition with MTN, voice or any text messaging services).

 To cease advertising or in any other way promoting same and to desist from canvassing subscribers and other potential users in respect thereof for so long as the respondent is a shareholder of the joint venture or the Joint Venture Agreement that subsists between the parties."

Sifiso Nyembe, Communications Manager at SPTC, said the fixedfone would not be switched off because the ruling made by the ICA did not make reference to the corporation’s fixed wireless product. He said this in an interview on Wednesday. SPTC’s interpretation of the ICA ruling was that the fixed line product was not covered by the judgment.

Nyembe said the judgment only covered SPTC’s ONE mobile telephony service.

He also said SPTC and MTN entered into a Joint Venture Agreement on mobile telephony, not on fixed or data services. His other argument was that the Fixedfone could not be part of the judgment because it was introduced after MTN had filed a complaint to the ICA. Nyembe said as per the ruling, the corporation had engaged in a process to switching off ONE, a course of action which began on Thursday and would last for 14 days.

The manager also said the arbitration process with the ICA had not been completed. He said some components of the matter were still on the arbitrator’s table. He identified these as the issue of costs relevant to the matter which were yet to be determined and finalised by the arbitrator. If this saga ends with a switch-off of the Fixedfone, over 46 000 customers who are connected to the fixedfone would be left in a limbo with absolute gadgets. These are SPTC customers who pay a subscription fee of E100 to enjoy making free calls from their fixed mobile gadgets.

The fixedfone, together with the ONE mobile, are products of SPTC’s Next Generation Network (NGN) which cost the parastatal over E500 million to purchase and setup. Nyembe said over 14 000 customers were connected to the ONE mobile phone network. The introduction of the Fixedfone in August 2011 was a turning point for SPTC as it produced a sudden upsurge in numbers of people who used the corporation’s products. Before the introduction of the product, SPTC had 45 000 customers on the fixed line.

At about the same time Swazi MTN reportedly had connected over 700 000 customers to their network via their cellphone gadgets.

The biggest uptake of the fixedfone product happened in a period of three months, between August and December 2011, when 33 411 handsets were sold.

   - Which teachers are going back to class? Those who were fired or those who have just been hired?
August 12, 2012, 12:01 pm, Melokuhle Mamm (simanazee@yahoo.com)

  - pls yu Mtn stop being selfish give sptc the netwok for fixed phone stop being selfish
August 12, 2012, 12:00 pm, mandisa nkambule (phililenkambule@gmail.com)

  - I am not happy with what SPTC is doing to us it's customers. They are using us to fight this battle they have lost. The "fixed" phone is mobile so what game is SPTC is playing with us. I'm not educated but I understand what mobile component is. Please refund us and leave us out of this.
August 12, 2012, 12:00 pm, Tsabile (Tsabimb@gmail.com)

  - MTN please leave us in peace. Besivele sitiphilela naSPTC
August 12, 2012, 1:01 pm, Melokuhle Mamm (simanazee@yahoo.com )

  - It would be very unfair to completely shut down the mobile service by Sptc, considering the fact that most of the rural areas is not covered with landlines by Sptc. I think Mtn is just using the joint-venture saga to milk the poor Swazis dry with her high rates.It would have been better if Mtn stand benefited the poor rural folks.
August 12, 2012, 1:01 pm, Ntjayiya (gcinak@swazi.net)

　

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