SWAZI MOBILE GIVEN PREFERENCE OVER MTN

MBABANE - Seeing that it is still a ‘new baby’, the Swaziland Communications Commission (SCCOM) has given Swazi Mobile first preference over Swazi MTN.

This is through the granting of a frequency spectrum which will allow the mobile company to have better network coverage to about 80 per cent.
Spectrum relates to the radio frequencies allocated to the mobile industry and other sectors for communication over the airwaves.

Both mobile companies applied for the new spectrum in the 800MHz band last year and even though SCCOM granted it to both of them, Swazi Mobile has been given first preference in that it has been awarded an immediate right to switch it on while for Swazi MTN it will only be effective at the end of September this year.

The assignment of the new spectrum to Swazi Mobile will help the company immensely as the number of sites to expand and improve its LTE network coverage will be increased.
This is because the frequency allows faster speed, especially on data, and its connectivity covers a wide area.

According to a government gazette, general notice No.1/2018, the commission received an application on March 27, 2017 from Swazi Mobile for the new spectrum assignment and also received same from Swazi MTN on May 3, 2017.
In the gazette, SCCOM justified in detail why Swazi Mobile was allowed an immediate assignment.
Firstly, the commission, through Chief Executive Officer Mvilawemphi Dlamini, noted that it considered the applications on a first come first served basis, hence the decision to assign the immediately available 5MHz first to Swazi Mobile.

“It is not the commission’s view that the current demand for spectrum in this band exceeds supply, hence the option to adopt the first come first serve basis,” said the commission.
It noted that Swazi Mobile currently had about 50 per cent nationwide coverage including 2G, 3G and 4G compared to Swazi MTN’s above 97 per cent.
“The commission considered that the immediate availability of channel 3 to Swazi Mobile, instead of Swazi MTN, will help increase the network coverage of Swazi Mobile to about 80 per cent using the same number of sites, based on the propagation characteristics of the band,” reads part of the gazette.

It was mentioned that the commission was of the view that network coverage and technology could not be used to define an effective competitive environment which made it to consider that Swazi Mobile was in a more desirous situation for the immediate assignment for effective provisioning of their services.

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