‘MTN, SPTC debacle costs the nation’

Swaziland Royal Science and Technology Park Project Manager Moses Zungu (R) explaining a point during the tour while Minister of ICT Winnie Magagula, South African High Commissioner Happy Mahlangu and Minister of Economic Planning Prince Hlangusemphi amon

NOKWANE – The Minister of Information, Communication and Technology Winnie Magagula has said the MTN Swaziland and SPTC debacle is costing the Swazi nation cheap and advanced technology.

Magagula said what the two companies were doing was denying the Swazis what they serve, the advantage of enjoying advanced and cheaper technology. She said if they continue taking each other to court and not focusing on what they agreed on when they signed the joint venture Agreement (JVA), Swazis will not benefit.

impossible

The minister said the contro-versy between the two companies made it impossible for Swazis to enjoy cheap and advanced tech-nology.
Magagula said government expected the companies to engage each other on matters.
She said the corporate giants need to respect each other’s business.

Magagula said the two compa-nies would find themselves, due to technological advances, dealing in almost identical products.
The minister said utmost respect for the other’s trade would go a long way in harmonising the situation between the two companies.
 “The two companies are one and they will not separate but they need to respect each other and also need to respect each other’s business.
“They both need to understand that technology advances and somehow the products they produce will clash, so that they can come up with a way of dealing with the matter. One way that they could have used to settle their differences was to further define what makes the other’s products distinct from the other. In this way they were going to be able to draw a line that party A’s products go as far as here and party B as far as there,” the minister said.

The minister was responding to questions after the tour of the Biotechnology Park yesterday. She said this when answering a question that was posed by one of the people who attended the tour. The question was seeking an answer if the impasse between the two (MTN Swaziland and SPTC) would not affect investors who would be interested in investing in the country through the Biotechnology Park. MTN had taken SPTC to court for allegedly defying the JVA, which they both signed in 1998, by producing wireless telecommunication gadgets.

The Minister said the umbrella company is SPTC Group and its major shareholder is SPTC and MTN was formed by the former.
“MTN is a company under SPTC, it was formed by SPTC and the latter is the major shareholder. For example, at the end of the year when the financial year ends, the two companies are merged into SPTC group,” the minister said.
She said the only difference between the two companies that were under one company, was that the other was specialising in mobile while the other was dealing with fixed gadgets.  

entered

Magagula said MTN had been taking SPTC to court because they felt that the latter had somehow violated the agreement they made when entered the marriage. She said instead of settling their difference in a round table as one company, MTN decided to go to court.
“As government, our stand is that these issues must be resolved in a round table as a company instead of taking it to court. We believe that at the round table they can reach an agreement on who has violated the agreement and how they can find a way forward,” she said.

Magagula said even the JVA that the two parties signed in 1998 meant that they were venturing together. She said the word joint means being combined together by certain agreements.
She said what the two parties needed to understand was that technology has changed over the years and they should sit down to clarify the current situation instead of focusing on what they talked about in 1998 because of the transformation that has taken place in technology since then.

... SPTC will be able to compete with MTN in 2016

MBABANE- The Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) will legally be able to establish a subsidiary telecommunications service company that shall be afforded the same interconnection conditions and rates like all other licensed operators as from July 2016.

This is according to amendments to the SPTC Act of 1983 as stated in the Electronic Communications Act of 2013 that was issued on July 31.
“After three years of coming into force of this Act, the corporation shall establish a subsidiary telecommunications service company that shall be afforded the same interconnection conditions and rates like all other licensed operators,” reads the gazette in section 53, subsection 4.

In Legal Notice No.104 of 2013, the Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Winnie Magagula, said the newly- enacted legislation shall come into force as from July 31, 2016.

Section 53 of the amended Act, sub-section 1, states that from the date of coming into effect of Swaziland Communications Commission Act, 2010, the corporation shall have the exclusive right of establishing, constructing, maintaining and operating the national communications backbone infrastructure.
SPTC started rolling out the mobile components of its Next Generation (NG) Network in 2010. Thereafter, Swazi MTN moved a court application where it highlighted that the rollout of data components was in breach of their Joint Venture Agreement (JVA).

The Supreme Court resolved that SPTC should shut down their mobile gadgets. However, after it became evident that the matter could still not be resolved after the Supreme Court ruling had been issued, Swazi MTN further made an application to the International Court of Arbitration and Chamber of Commerce seeking clarity.          

The judgment issued by the ICA, ordered SPTC to terminate its mobile component of the network and services operated by it. This includes mobile data services or functions that are in competition with MTN, as well as voice and any other text messaging services.
 

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