NATCOM RECONVENES CONSUMER PARLIAMENT
By: Joseph G. Bangali
The Great Hall of Njala University, Bo Campus, was overwhelmed on Friday 26 March as NATCOM hosted its first ever Consumer Parliament since the administration of President Julius Maada Bio came into office in 2018. This is after a 5 year hiatus as the last Consumer Parliament convened in 2016. The Honourable Minister of Information and Communication Mr. Mohamed Rado Swaray, Honourable members of Parliament including the Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Information and Communication, Hon. Boston Munda, CEOs and management of Mobile companies including SierraTel and a host of dignitaries from civil society and other walks of life were present. The host NATCOM was adequately represented as all Commissioners, the Director General and Senior Management were present.
The theme for this year’s session was “DIGITAL PENETRATION FOR CONSUMER SATISFACTION IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS”. THE Master of ceremonies for the occasion, Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Association of journalists, Mr. Mohamed Asmieu Bah was introduced by a senior staff member of NATCOM Mr. Ben Foday. The MC lauded NATCOM for the wonderful initiative and remarked that ‘if other industries can follow NATCOM’S example, then consumers would benefit a lot in Sierra Leone.’
Brigadier General A.B. Conteh the Brigade commander, 5th Infantry Brigade, Gondama, delivered the welcome address on behalf of the Resident Minister South who was unavoidably absent. He assured parliamentarians that they were most welcome to Bo and that their security and safety was assured and admonished all to make proper use of the Southern hospitality which Bo city is known for
An overview of the Consumer Parliament and NATCOM’S role was delivered by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Ambassador Retired Joe Blell who was thankful to the present administration for giving him a new lease on life. He declared that the purpose of convening this parliamentary session was ‘to promote efficiency and fair competition’ in the telecom industry. He acknowledged the wonderful working relationship he was having with Commissioners as well as management and Staff of this notable entity. According to the Chairman, this session aims to bring a better understanding of the workings of the mobile companies to the consumers as well as giving the consumers an opportunity to express whatever concerns and or issues they have been having.
Mr. Daniel B. Kaitibi Director General of NATCOM in a very brief statement expressed his joy at the large turnout and expressed optimism that this shows how much people care about their digital life. He noted that the very Friday marked his one year in office and was delighted with the progress made so far. He has recently piloted six very important Bills through Parliament and intends to push a few more in order to ensure better quality of service. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Information and Communication Honourable Boston Munda acknowledged that parliaments make laws in the best interest of the people. He furthered that since the NATCOM Act was enacted in 2006, it has already been amended twice in 2009 and 2015. As Parliamentarians, their role was to represent the people, hold the MDAs accountable and report accordingly. Their role was not to bring development as often misconstrued.
Orange SL was ably represented by the General Secretary Haffi Haffner as the CEO was out of the country. She extended congratulations to NATCOM for convening the Consumer Parliament as it was long overdue. According to Ms. Haffner Orange has only been operating in Sierra Leone for 5 years but can boast of having the largest network in the country with over 440 3G compatible sites and are presently constructing 45 more sites. She pointed out that the entire country only has a 64% penetration, internet at only 18% and only 30% of the population use smartphones. Orange SL presently covers 74% of the population of Sierra Leone and has invested more than Le1.3 Trillion. They have equally reduced prices by 140%. Their social interventions have included launching the Spark app for students, have supported the government’s free education initiative and are leaders in mobile money transactions with their Orange money branch. They are key on local content and are a multisource provider.
Africell SL CEO Shadi Genjawi commended NATCOM for living up to its responsibilities. Their corporation has been focused on training programs paramount of which includes development of classes for practical engineering courses at Njala University. They have plans to increase their nationwide coverage by 25% and that includes establishing 125 new sites. Among other things they hope to achieve this year is 90% coverage of the entire country.
Qcell started operations in Sierra Leone in January 2019 and were ably represented in the parliament by the CEO Jayamani Karthik. Qcell in just a little over a year in operation has now aunched 4G technology in Freetown and its environs and customers can now easily switch from 3G to 4G without exchanging Sim cards. Since its inception according to the CEO Qcell has been able to drastically reduce the cost of data much to the delight of majority of Sierra Leoneans and will soon roll out Qmoney among other incentives. Qcell has recently collaborated with both FBC and Njala University to start a graduate Engineering program and are on a continuous expansion spree. Qcell he said stands for customer satisfaction.
The only state owned although dormant telecom institution SIERRATEL represented by the Acting Managing Director Mr. Prince A.S.Bio was commissioned on 1 April 1995 when the Sierra Leone External Communications SLET and the Sierra Leone National Telecommunications Company SLNTC were merged. His exclamation that “we will not be intimidated by the giants in the industry” caused an uproar among parliamentarians. SIERRATEL according to him launched the first ever 4G lite in the country but unfortunately could not expand on it due to financial constraints. Even though theirs is the only state owned telecom industry in Sierra Leone, they do not receive any subvention and that is the reason they have lagged behind the other telecom companies. He appealed to the government to transform their operations from CDMA to GSM as this will enable them to capture a bigger share of the market. SIERRATEL is the only company that can boast of having a high-speed internet network and are also working on expanding their fixed line network and are also engaged in the training of members of the Armed Forces of Sierra Leone. He admitted that their challenges include lack of capital injection, lack of policy support and pleaded with government to extend businesses to them that can generate income.
Speaking of behalf of the Internet Service Providers Mustapha Jangah and also representing AFCON SL stated that they were present to know what the consumers want and how to solve their issues. Their main goal is to provide internet services to homes and corporations. ZOODLABS/TMT Chief Operating Officer David A.T. Kpakima said they were there to listen to concerns and questions of consumers and sees the consumer parliament as an opportunity to market their services. “When families, businesses and communities are connected, people are empowered”. For this reason and many more that they have in the last 3 months reduced their prices by almost 100%. Director of communication in the Ministry of Information and Communication Mr. Mohamed Munir Jalloh in his brief remarks stated that their core mandate is to ensure that an enabling environment is created to bring in digital technology into the country. He encouraged all to use the cyberspace to incorporate all aspects of social media.
The Honorable minister of Information and Communication Mr. Mohamed Rahman Swarray delivered the keynote address and official opening of the Consumer Parliament. In his statement he concurred that the consumer parliament aims to take to task service providers. The main focus of his speech was geared towards the ramifications of the proposed Cyber Bill for which he has been asked by the Speaker of Parliament to undertake more consultations and awareness raising among the population. That for far too long it has been an embarrassment to the country not to have a Cyber Crime Bill passed into law. He dilated on the advantages of protecting our citizens in the cyber space from abuse and other forms of exploitation