THE Ghana Chamber of telecoms, established in 2010, recently announced the appointment of kwaku Sakyi Addo, former broadcaster, as its first chief Executive Officer. BW sought some answers from him about the work of the chamber
Business World: What is the purpose of and the overall vision of the Telecom Chamber.
Kwaku Sakyi Addo: The chamber is a private initiative by the mobile operators i.e the telecom companies. Its purpose is similar to that of the Chamber of Mines. It seeks to look out for the interest of its members by seeking to impact regulation, legislation and policy. As players in the industry, they know quite a lot, so their input into regulation, legislation or overall policy is critical because without the input of the players it will not be complete.
As players they are key stakeholders in policy decision regarding telecommunication; they are key stakeholders in legislation regarding telecommunications; they are key stakeholders in regulation because they would execute it.
However, it is more effective if (they) do it as a group, than if (they) seek to affect policy as individual operators so the chamber’s job is to be the voice of the industry and to reflect the needs of the industry.
The chamber also is there to promote research into telecommunication because the development of the industry inures to the benefit of not only the operator but the consumer as well. What benefits the operators benefit the consumers because if the consumer is not impress he/she would not use the services that are on the market, so the well being of operators depends of the satisfaction of the consumer. This is essentially what the chamber is about. The chamber is not about price fixing; it is not a cartel so matters of pricing are left entirely to the market.
BW: Given that the operators are fiercely competitive, how difficult is it to find a common voice?
KSA: You are absolutely right. There is strong competition and that is good for the industry; it is good for the consumer, and it is good for the suppliers in the supply chain – whether that is the advertising industry or broadcasting, media organisations and all the people that are operating in the market – so competition is good. But as we said, the chamber is there to deal with matters of common interest, so we may take up matters that are of interest to all of the operators. When an operator is not interested in a particular issue and the other operators want the chamber to take it up, that operator may issue what is called “no objection”. So it can either unanimous or an operator that does not have a direct interest would have to issue a no objection before the chamber can take it up. However, if one player or more were to give an objection the chamber could not take up a particular issue.
BW: By what process are the issues that the chamber pursues, decided?
KSA: The chamber represents the operators and they are the ones that are in the market so they are the ones that may encounter a difficulty and flag it for the attention of the chamber and say we think this should be looked. You see, there are two ways that an operator that is facing an issue can take it up: they can take it up individually, as an entity, or they may say, we think players could be facing this in the future so should we take it up as a common course and if there is no objection from any player then the chamber take it up.
BW: What tools will the chamber employ to seek its ends?
KSA: Essentially, its communication. Communication with key stakeholders. Sitting with people and saying this is affecting operators and if we don’t address it, it could affect the quality of service or it could affective the government’s long term strategic policy goals regarding telecommunication, therefore lets address it.
BW: And that is for only police makers will that also include communication with the public?
KSA: Absolutely. if there are issues that may be a concern to the public, say, the environmental impact of masts, it is important that there is an understanding of what the potential damage or lack of it on your home, school, etc. Unless you really do understand the issues, the wrong decision or the wrong policy, regulation or legislation might be made, so where necessary the chamber would elicit the knowledge of specialists in a particular area to help educate every one about a particular issue.
BW: How is the chamber going to be funded?
KSA: The chamber is funded by its members. You have to register to be a member and again, annual subscription fees are paid by members.
BW: Given it backing, won’t the public suspect that the chamber would protect the interest of the providers as opposed to user?
KSA: I made a point earlier that the well-being of the provider translates automatically to the benefit of the consumer. What is the interest of the industry is in the interest of the subscribers. Decisions or regulations that could affect quality of service, say on the sighting of masts or charges on property, etc, naturally will be reflecting in the cost of the service to the subscriber. If you make it easy for say, operators to invest in broadband it will lead to greater access to broadband for citizens. So in working for operators, the chamber is also working, in effect, for subscribers. If the cost of doing business is cheaper, then the cost of receiving and servicing them will be cheaper; if the tools that operators need to be efficient are incentivised for them to access them to bring in those pieces of technology and deploy them in Ghana then that will translate into more efficient, world class services for subscribers.
BW: Are there currently, any particular issues that the chamber seeks to influence?
KSA: Currently we have the issue of SIM registration that is still ongoing. We are still engaging and working with the National Communications Authority on that. Mobile Number Portability is also something that we are keeping an eye on to ensure that it goes as planned. Another is the business operating permit and property rates that are levied by the local assemblies. There are disputes over some of the charges from certain assemblies so we are seeking some settlement on that, working together with the NCA and the Ministry of Local Government to seek a resolution. Another is what we call the “right of way”. Fibre optic cables that are laid by telecom companies are often punctured by contractors leading to downtime, loss of revenue and a negative effect on quality of service. The other half of the right of way is with respect to road construction. When roads are being constructed, operators are asked to relocate and at their won costs, sometimes within a year or so of laying the cables and with the proper permits. We think this is unfair and we are seeking to have something done about it. Another one is the 20% import duty on SIM cards. Now the law has included the SIM card in the copyright legislation, categorised as a device that has copyright application, that is, you can use the SIM card to copy materials. This is incorrect so we are seeking to have that addressed as well.
BW: Are there any successes so that you can speak off?
KSA:We don’t want to claim a victory in the extension on SIM registration. I will just say that we appreciate the work of the regulator when issues about SIM registration were raised and we appreciate the fact that they created a window of opportunity for some of the outstanding issues about SIM registration to be addressed. There is nothing we can do on our own so for all those issues I’ve listed, we can only be able to get them addressed effectively and promptly in collaboration with the institutions; with public agencies, working together for the good of the industry and subscriber and the development of our country. I don’t think we will ever be able to necessarily claim anything as a victory for the chamber.
BW: How should the effectiveness of the chamber be judged by the public?
KSA:Ultimately, improved quality of services – world class services; world class legislative and regulatory environment that delivers quality and affordable services to subscribers and our vision at the chamber is to be the voice of the most respected industry in Ghana.