Telecom giant confirms Etisalat suit over Visafone acquisition

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February 9, 2016 12:11 PM

In a statement, Amina Oyagbola, ‎MTN executive, said, “Etisalat has filed a lawsuit against MTN and Visafone, and we have filed appropriate processes before the court for necessary determination..."

Travellers walk past an MTN telecom shop at King Shaka International Airport in Durban, South Africa, November 16, 2015. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

Media reports reveal that

In a statement,

Oyagbola further stated that the acquisition allows Visafone and MTN to leverage resources for service enhancement whilst strengthening the growth and roll-out of broadband services across the country.

The MTN chief also referenced media reports credited to regulatory authorities that the acquisition would help sustain the continuity of CDMA services in Nigeria.

However, Etisalat said it saw the action it had taken as necessary, to prevent the use of the spectrum by MTN at this time, as it will assert the dominance of MTN in the retail data services market.

“You will recall that MTN Nigeria was declared dominant by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in 2013 and remains dominant in the wholesale leased line and retail voice markets.

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“The use of the 800MHz spectrum to deploy broadband services ahead of its competitors, particularly those who prior to MTNs purchase of Visafone, held similar spectrum bands as MTN, will further entrench MTN’s dominance in the Nigerian telecommunications sector,” Etisalat said in a statement confirmed by Chineze Amanfo, its PR head.

Etisalat said it had, in addition to the legal action and in line with Section 86 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, approached the NCC to understand the basis of its decision to approve the acquisition, according to a report by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek.

“As you are aware, the matter is already in court as such, we are restrained from commenting further on the matter,” the company added.‎

In July, 2015 Etisalat had also filed a suit against the NCC and MTN, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking a number of orders including an Order of Mandamus to compel the NCC to direct MTN to pull back its 11kobo per second tariff plan, amongst others.

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