The National Communications Authority (NCA) is embarking on an industry consultation to fine tune its draft guidelines on how players in the industry can can be disconnected by tower companies or by other operators.
Is a public notice on its website, the NCA said it has published the Draft Guidelines on Procedure For Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Service Operators.
“This follows the Authority’s intent to issue the Guidelines pursuant to its mandate under Section 3(r) of the National Communications Authority Act, 2008, Act 769 and Section 6(m) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775 which prohibits a service provider from impairing or terminating the electronic communications service provided to a user during dispute without the written approval of the Authority,” the notice said.
The import of the law is that no tower company is allowed to disconnect any telecom operator or internet service provider (IS) without the written approval of the NCA. In the same fashion, no telecom operator or internet service provider is allowed to disconnect another telco or ISP without the NCA’s approval.
The NCA is therefore inviting comments from Industry players and members of the general public on the sDraft Guidelines from Monday, 19th June, 2023 to Thursday, 3rd August, 2023.
This comes just over a month after the leading independent tower company, ATC Ghana disconnected Surfline and Busy Ghana due to years of unpaid utility bills and service charges.
Other industry players like AT and Vodafone also owe ATC Ghana but they have been spared because the company said there is a different discussion between them and those two, whereas Surfline and Busy Ghana have consistently failed to live up to their obligations.
Even though ATC Ghana said they disconnected Surfline and Busy Ghana with the approval of the NCA, it is now emerging that there are no clear existing regulatory guidelines for that.
The Draft Guidelines is available on the NCA Website at https://nca.org.gh/2023/06/20/invitation-for-comments-on-guidelines-on-procedure-for-granting-approval-to-disconnect-telecommunications-service-operators/
“We wish to assure the general public that, to ensure transparency and openness, the Authority shall consider all comments/responses as non-confidential,” the NCA said.
The NCA said all responses/comments should be electronically transmitted as e-mail attachments, in Microsoft Word format to smp@nca.org.gh.
“Subsequent to the completion of the Public Consultation, the Authority shall proceed to publish the Guidelines on the Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Service Operators,” it said.
