Guinea Bissau’s National Regulatory for Information and Communication Technologies (ARN-TIC) has fined MTN XAF691,919,023 (approximately about US$1.3 million) for collecting excess interconnection fees from subscribers over a period of 21 months.

According to the telecommunications regulator, on 25 November 2020, MTN Guinea-Bissau (formerly trading as Spacetel Guinea-Bissau) was officially accused of anomalies in its tariff structure which the regulatory body said constituted serious irregularities.

ARN-TIC added that the company contravened a May 2010 law that set the maximum tariff for mobile-mobile-fixed interconnection services at XAF45.

“Of the different reports received between the years 2018 and 2019, ARN found that the interconnection tariff exceeded the XAF45 set as a limit maximum,” the regulator stated.

The operator allegedly charged up to XAF164 for off-net calls and XAF68 for on-net calls, a discrepancy which the regulator said existed between the interconnection tariff negotiated by the company and the one it concluded and charged subscribers.

“MTN, which has a significant market position, has taken advantage of this to increase the interconnection tariff excessively, knowing that the end user, due to the absence of an alternative, would not be able to cope with tariff increase, aggravated by the fact that it was not communicated to the ARN-TIC or to users on your network,” the regulator added.

ARN-TIC has directed MTN to return the money in terms of that paid by users from 2018 to the first three quarters of 2019, a sum total of almost XAF700 million, to the public treasury.

The regulator said the money will be spent on projects “that would maximise telecoms network in the country and would improve telecoms access by the population through the Universal Access Fund for ICT.”

The order, signed by Engr Lcandro Vieira on behalf of the regulator’s board of directors, also instructed MTN to adjust its interconnection rates to XAF39.13 as agreed by the operator.

MTN’s venture in Guinea-Bissau began in 2006 when it announced a US$5.5-billion takeover bid for London and Dubai-listed mobile operator Investcom, owners of Spacetel Guinea-Bissau. At the end of 2005, Investcom had less than 5 million mobile subscribers across Benin, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

MTN has not responded to request for comment at the time of publishing.