Malawi Regulator in Dispute with Zain Over High Phone Costs

Published on: 10th June 2009

Malawi's Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) and the local arm of Zain have clashed over plans to lower phone tariffs in the country. The regulator wants to open the market up to more networks, while Zain blames high taxes and says increased subscribers would lead to lower tariffs.

"We believe more players would increase competition on the market and this will force the companies to reduce their tariffs for them to remain competitive. We are sure that consumers would be the ultimate beneficiaries from the increased numbers of players on the market," Macra Acting Director General Mike Kumtiya told the Daily Times newspaper.

The country currently has two mobile networks, Zain and former incumbent, (Telekom Networks Malawi) TNM - while a two more networks have been licensed. Globally Advanced Integrated Networks (Gain) expects to launch its network within the next couple of months, while G-Mobile is still waiting to announce a launch date.

Zain Malawi's Managing Director Fayaz King countered the claim, saying that "Imagine at Zain, we have mounted a network that could take up to 5 million users but we currently have only 1.5 million customers. We believe that if at least 3 million people started using the Zain network, we could start enjoying the benefits of economies of scale and we can be able to extend the same to consumers through reduce taxes,"

The Mobile World subscriber database estimates that Malawi ended Q1 '09 with just over 2 million subscribers - representing a population penetration level of just 15%. Zain is the market leader with 66.7% of the customer base, with Telecom Networks Malawi (TNM) taking the remainder.

On the web: Daily Times - Mobile World

 

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