BY: Hassan Alimamy Kamara
The two leading mobile network operators (MNOs) in Sierra Leone, Africell and Orange Sierra Leone, have made a strong case for tariff increase, following the increase in price in almost everything.
At a joint press conference, they said in trying to provide telecommunication services in the country, due to the exponential hike in cost of providing their services, whilst trying to cope with the devaluation of the country’s currency, they have been fundamentally impacted negatively on their businesses, on which they said have impediment to their investment aspirations. They said since their last tariff adjustments in 2017, the combined increase on some of their key cost variables, they said stands at an alarming rate of 698% negative.
Danetta Younge head of Legal and Regulatory representing Orange Sierra Leone, and Abdul Fatorma, Public Relations Director representing Africell, in their joint presentation said the increase in foreign exchange rate against the Leones, the increase in fuel, cost of electricity tariff and cost of powering their sites, cost of internet that they buy (wholesale) from Zoodlabs, cost of terrestrial fiber(Leoncom), cost of site construction materials (steel and cement), all they said have affected them greatly. They said this on Saturday 17th November 2022, at the Kenema City Council Hall, during the Ministry of Information and Communications media and CSOs annual retreat.
With this, they said would like to emphasize on the criticality and the urgency to salvage their cry for tariff review, as they said it will help to foster and strengthen the sustainability of the telecommunication sector to increase their contribution to the development of ICT whilst at the same time impacting the population of Sierra Leone and improving daily lives. On that note, they therefore call on the immediate intervention of their regulatory stakeholders, as they said their ability to further invest in Sierra Leone is dependent on resolving their prevailing challenges.
Explaining what they have done as a sector, they said they have been among the key drivers towards the development of ICT in Sierra Leone and their commitment and contribution over the years towards the implementation of the president’s manifesto remains enormous. They continued that their apparent commitment can be seen in they being the biggest taxpayers and among the largest employers in the country.
In addition, they said over the years they have expanded their networks to reach remote areas with telecommunication services, resulting to the construction of over 1000 sites and achieving a population coverage exceeding 90%, they explained. They added that they have launched 4G and 4G+ technologies for enhanced data speed, and said today their internet prices remain one of the cheapest in the sub-region. Also, they stated that have created job opportunities to over 100,000 Sierra Leoneans with direct and indirect employments and have supported the country in diverse ways, they explained.
