The National Communications Authority (NCA) is developing a Regulatory Framework for the operation of Submarine Carrier Services in Ghana.
It therefore calling on the industry players, consumers and the general public to make inputs into the upcoming regulations that will allow it to license and submarine carriers that can sell capacity directly to clients other than the landing partners, usually telcos.
A statement from NCA said submarine carrier service covers the operation of consortium members of submarine cables landing in Ghana, which intend to sell capacity directly to users rather than through the licensed entity landing the cable.
“The authorisation shall be called Electronic Communications (Submarine Carrier) Service Authorisation,” the statement said.
Per its mandate under Section 27 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) and Section 4.1 of the National Telecommunications Policy 2005 (NTP’05), the NCA is therefore inviting Licensed Service Providers, Consumers of Information and Communication Technology services and the General Public to submit views and comments on the Electronic Communications (Submarine Carrier) Service Authorisation.
It said the public consultation runs from 1st November, 2024 until 30th November, 2024, adding that all responses, views, and comments, in the format outlined on page 4 of the draft regulation could be transmitted electronically as e-mail attachments in Microsoft Word format to info@nca.org.gh.
“The NCA wishes to state that in furtherance of transparency and openness, the Authority shall consider all responses as non-confidential. Consequently, all submissions will be published on the NCA website upon receipt.
Draft Regulatory Framework
In the intro to the draft regulatory framework, the NCA noted that some submarine carriers landing cables in Ghana have already constituted consortiums and they do sell capacity to entities other than the ones landing the cable.
The proposed regulations are therefore intended to regularise that operation and allow them to continue to sell capacity to other entities.
Per the draft framework, the Submarine Carrier Authorization, which is classified into Class A and B, will be for five years, renewable for same period upon expiry.
It said the scope of the Class A authorization will allow entities who are members of submarine cable consortiums to sell submarine cable capacity to licensed electronic communications service providers directly without going through the landing party, while the Class B Authorization will allow holders to sell submarine cable capacity on behalf of consortium members of submarine cable systems.
“Holders of Class B authorization may represent more than one consortium member of Submarine Cable Systems. This authorisation is specific to a new entrant or licensed entities who are not paying the equivalent of 1% of their revenue as an annual regulatory fee to the NCA,” the document said.
The document also provides for some exemption, particular for entities who wish to partner with service providers who already pay 1% of their revenue as regulatory fees to MTN. It also makes room for submarine carriers to partner with local entities.
According to the document, there is registration fee of GHS1,000 for both licenses, but Class A authorization comes at a fee of GHS20,000 while Class B goes for GHS10,000.
Download the consultation document below and make your comments:
PUBLIC-CONSULTATION-ON-SUBMARINE-CARRIER-AUTHORISATION.docx
