MTN REFUSES TO SHARE 10 TOWERS WITH SWAZI MOBILE

MBABANE – Competition is known to bring both gain and pain and that is exactly what is currently happening in the country’s mobile industry.

While the consumer is currently enjoying the benefits of having two mobile companies operating, the road to the eventual switch on by Swazi Mobile has not been an easy one.
This is because the new mobile company has had to endure the stress of struggling to secure approval for the sharing of sites with its competitor, Swazi MTN.

It has been gathered that for over five months, Swazi MTN delayed approving the applications for site-sharing with Swazi Mobile, something which saw the latter going to the extent of constructing its own in selected areas.

A source close to the matter confirmed that Swazi Mobile felt frustrated by the competitor and that had the company not taken the decision to construct its own sites, it would not have met the deadline of officially switching on last month. The source said the construction of the sites was obviously costly for the new company but that its management persevered as they did not want to disappoint the nation by postponing the switch-on.

“Had Swazi Mobile waited, it would have meant starting work as late as next year. Obviously, this would have been to the detriment of consumers. Consequently, it has led to delayed coverage in many places and there are also cost implications as site acquisition processes are tiresome. There is also the issue of logistics on building the sites as compared to existing ones.

The delay in response also affected the company’s timelines and schedules obviously resulting to unforeseen costs,” the source said.
As if the delay in the approval was not enough, it has been gathered that out of the 21 sites that Swazi Mobile had applied for, only 11 of them were eventually approved.

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