Home | Business | UPS MARKET UNDER ECC PROBE

UPS MARKET UNDER ECC PROBE

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

MBABANE – Eswatini Competitions Commission (ECC) is investigating anti-competitive trade practices in the market for the service, repair and maintenance of Powerwise and Inform brands of UPSs.


UPS is an acronym for an uninterruptible power supply, which is a device that allows a computer to keep running for at least a short time when the primary power source is lost. UPS devices also provide protection from power surges.


The ECC, which is an independent, statutory body corporate established under Section 6 of the Competition Act 8 of 2007, is investigating allegations of unfair practices in the industry by one of the players.


Finalisation


The names of the companies involved in the investigation have been deliberately withheld pending the finalisation of the investigations by ECC.
According to well-placed sources, one of the companies engaging in the supply of this service lodged a complaint with the ECC after it approached a supplier in South Africa and it was informed that they could not procure spares or a particular brand of the UPSs.


The reason cited, according to impeccable sources, was that the company was denied permission to procure spares and a particular brand of the UPSs, following that the major supplier claimed to be dealing with one of the players in the country.


Given these developments, the company approached the ECC seeking its intervention as it alleged that it was unfair trade practice. In doing so, the ECC has written to a number of organisations seeking their input in investigating the alleged anti-competitive trade conduct.


The acting Chief Executive Officer of ECC, Sheila Wamala, is signatory to the letters sent to the organisations.
An excerpt of the letter sent to some of the organisations that were identified as customers in this market, states that the ECC seeks assistance from the companies by virtue of the fact that they are using the Powerwise and Inform brands of UPSs as power backup for their information technology systems.
In the letter, the ECC stated that information had come to its attention that the companies were clients in the industry and sought that they assist with information on whether they used one of the brands or both for the functioning of its UPS devices.


“Please state who performs service, repair and maintenance activities of the UPS devices and who supplies your organisation with the required spares and parts of the service, repair and maintenance of the UPSs,” reads in part the letter.


providers


The ECC also seeks the organisations to assist with information on whether they had changed or switched service providers for the service, repair and maintenance ever since the UPSs were procured.
If the organisation had changed its service provider, the ECC sought to establish who the new service provider was, when the change was effected and what was were the reasons that motivated the change.


Also, the ECC sought that some of the organisations that are clients in the UPS market should share their knowledge of how many service providers were in the market for service, repair and maintenance of these UPS brands. All the organisations that were written to, which include financial institutions in the banking sector and corporate entities, were requested to submit their responses by tomorrow as sworn affidavits deposed to the managing director or any authorised employee.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: