Pondering Over Looming Feud In Liberia's GSM Sector

When I penned “GSM Boom and LTA's Ombudsmanship ” several weeks ago, I was not under the illusion that the Liberian telecom industry, despite its revolutionary dawn on the Liberian economic landscape, its lofty benefits and clamorous public reception, would be without scathing uproars amongst the principal stakeholders who include the industry's superintendent, the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), the service providers or the GSM companies as well as the service users. Notwithstanding the euphoric public embrace accorded the dawn of the telecommunication revolution in Liberia , its birth is clad with what some analysts call an irrational beginning. This irrational beginning, which saw the near invasion of the Liberian cyberspace via a conspiracy between profit-conscious capitalists and their less-virtuous political patrons, is understandably underpinned by circumstances of the exhilarated public reception for the telecom revolution and crippled state bureaucracy. What is less understood by many, however, is that these circumstances of irrational beginning lend themselves to empirical studies, forensic evaluation and radical sanitization necessary not for the sake of mere departure from a debauched past, but for increased gains and benefits for all stakeholders of the sector. But liberating the telecom sector clean out of a maze of several years of deeply psyched perceptions grounded in misguided modus operandi does have the potential to provoke resistance bound to trigger a serious war amongst the contenders and stakeholders.

Towards the bright day and calm shore of a vibrant and nationally rewarding telecom industry, tumultuous times would come to pass. In fact, right now, the clouds are bleak, and war drums are resonating. A bitter feud is evolving and very soon the larger Liberian public will bear witness to a phenomenal fact of life: resistance to change, reform and sanity and the imminent triumph of day over night. The bitter feud did not have to come. But it will come because change is a necessity for any progress-minded people. What is important, which is the essence of this article, is not merely to leaf through the issues and backgrounds whence comes the feud, but to prepare the “grass”--the end users--which is likely to suffer the looming feud of the elephants--LTA and GSM companies.

In order to understand the dynamics of the evolving standoff and appreciate the evolving contentions, one needs to first trace the advent of the GSM companies and the birth of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) as an independent regulatory body of the country's virgin telecom sector or, generally, the changing political and international environments in which the sector is metamorphosing. In situations of ecstatic uproar for emerging opportunities and bounties, which was the case with the debut of the first Liberian GSM companies, there is bound to be compromises and false starts in procedures and protocols. One does not have to be a telecommunications expert, therefore, to know that the advent of the GSM business in Liberia was marred by corruption, kickbacks and exploitation of ambiguous statutes and standards. Those who have passion for both current and past events would easily recall series of protracted and fierce brouhahas during the transitional government amongst top officials of the Post and Telecommunications Ministry, between the Ministry and the Liberia Telecommunications Corporations and between the Ministry and concerned legislative authorities over who had the power and mandate and the bigger stake in regulating and dealing with the budding GSM sector. Seething beneath the brouhaha was the key cancer: poor or total lack of regulatory framework. The absence of this legal regulatory framework constituted the compost that fertilized the hails of confusion amongst self-appointed stakeholders, the abuse of the virgin Liberian spectrum by potential and registered GSM companies, exploitation of innocent and ignorant customers, chaos in the entire industry and the threat that all of these conditions posed to the full enjoyment of the a vibrant telecommunications services by Liberians.

But those conditions could not be insurmountable for a people and nation emerging from 14 years of ruinous conflict; a conflict that left them at the tail of spiraling global changes and their benefits. It is certainly against this backdrop that the national leadership sought the counsel and guidance of experts to sanitize the Liberian telecom/GSM sector and make it more effective and responsive to the needs of a people for whom, as far as their recovery from conflict is concerned, it is an imperative. A forensic diagnosis of the troubled sector by Government and the World Bank and other international partners found a horde of deficiencies that included, but not limited to, a poor regulatory framework, inadequate and conflict legislations, insufficient policies, non-standardized license contracts between Government and GSM operators, which unconventionally entered into the market and the non-standardized and undervalued licensing and frequency regime.

Clearly -- and very good citizen and good businessman would agree--the findings of the diagnosis are serious viruses that a government working for the good of its people and within the context of global standards would not ignore and slight. The findings begged for statute-etched actions and strategies; they begged for radical reforms. It is apparently pursuant to the imperatives of these findings that Government and its international partners and experts made successful strides ranging from sorting out overlapping and conflict frequencies amongst GSM operators, rationalizing the number of operators, developing a telecommunications policy framework, to most importantly enacting the Telecommunications Law of 2007 leading to the birth of the LTA as an independent regulatory institution.

What is probably little known by most Liberians for whom the GSM sector is new and which is also invariably downplayed by most Liberian GSM companies, if not all, who might be thinking that the Liberian spectrum is a giveaway, the establishment of a robust regulatory body to exercise control, instill sanity and stimulate transparency and competition is a universally acceptable imperative. And for Liberia , whose GSM sector has had a chaotic irrational beginning, the operationalization of a spirited regulatory framework under the superintendency of an independent, strong-willed regulator is an utmost urgency. The GSM realm which holds countless windows of hybrid technologies, all wobbling in our vital spectrum, deserves an independent umpire that not only brings all players in check but also protects investors and state interest, not excluding consumers'. From the America, Europe, Asia and Africa, all countries enjoying the exploits of the GSM revolution, do have in place regulatory frameworks presided over by a referee entrusted with powers to jealously ensure fair play and shared benefits. They do have powers to police operators and even invite reprimands on violators.

In India recently, for instance, the Department of Telecom which regulates the country's telecommunications sector, revoked the licenses of 35 companies in the Internet sector for refusing to obey orders of the Department. The Indian government had been liberal or careless to the extent that the affected companies obtained licenses without paying fees. It should also be noted that Kosovo, which is part of the Serbia and Montenegro territory and under United Nations supervision, has established an independent regulatory body, launching tenders and issuing licenses. On March 2005 the court of Kosovo passed a final judgment, ruling that the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (ART) is to grant frequencies to the Mobitel-Mobikos consortium for a second GSM license.

Instances of GSM regulator getting tough on operators is commonplace around the world. Though there is the tendency for some regulatory bodies to sell out to these very powerful entrepreneurial giants, as the case once was in Nigeria , sparkling public criticism and presidential intervention. In the Nigerian instance, which came to the fore last Christmas when citizens were decrying “terribly poor” quality of services of GSM companies, it took the personal intervention of President Umaru Yar'Adua to call the operators to book, while the regulatory body, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) was drumming up excuses and justifications on behalf of the companies.

But here in Liberia , we seemed blessed to have a reform-obsessed telecommunications sector regulator which, against all odds, is making robust moves to ensure that players of the sector live within the confines of business ethic and the public good, though not at their commercial detriment. In about a year existence, the Liberia Telecommunications Authority have brought huge sanity to our telecommunications sector, first creating an accountable and transparent playing field necessary for a mutually beneficial GSM environment. With the playing field now plane, the LTA must move to other reform actions beginning with regularizing the status and stakes of the players, principally the operators. This will entail standardizing existing licenses and harmonizing frequencies of both old and new companies since the channels and procedures of the first acquisition were, after all, prime targets of the reform efforts that gave birth to the regulatory framework now in place and its offspring, the LTA. Ensuring that the license and frequency regime in the GSM sector is standardized and harmonized by the LTA is not only a mandate consistent with international best practice, but also pursuant the mandates and dictates of the Liberian Telecom Law, specifically Article 84 (1), (2) and (3).

It would not be a surprise when GSM operators put up resistance to standardization and harmonization of licenses and frequencies, as the alarm by LTA the other day is suggesting. Firstly, most of the resisters, or alleged resisters, do have retrenched economic powerbase and probably political connections to resist and go with impunity. Though their investment might be comparatively less than other post-conflict “partners in progress”, GSM companies no doubt rank higher in terms of returns. And “partners in progress” before the current ones, particularly those of foreign capital background, did demonstrate similar posturing and arrogance not because there were no laws to contain them, but because there were politicians and governmental bigwigs to shield and condone them.

Secondly, there is so much sensitivity and volatility with the GSM sector which an imminent enforcement of the law would provoke and which might accidentally play in the favor of the resisters. This factor has to do with inconveniences, however temporary they would be, that thousands, if not millions, of GSM users might face in case the LTA visits necessary lawful actions against service providers floating basic regulatory requirements. It is not difficult to deduce that GSM operatives evading or refusing LTA circulars for license standardization and frequency harmonization might want to play to the gallows; they might be relying on “customer shield,” the possible backlash of customers even if the GSM companies were lawfully contained.

Whatever the case, a showdown is expected. The LTA has alarmed that contrary to regulatory prescriptions and exhaustive concessions, four GSM operators in the country--LoneStar, Cellcom, Comium, and Libercell--have flatly refused to heed request for license standardization and frequency harmonizing, “obstructing LTA activities in this regard and, by extension, the GoL's sector reform—thereby attempting to rollback reform achievements.” Amongst other things, the issuing of licensing form to the operators is one of the steps toward achieving the standardization process, to be followed by the Licensing Agreement which details the terms and conditions of the new licensing framework, including the duration and fees structure of the license to be issued to the operators concerned. The sector policy framework regulator contends--and rightly so--that these highly profitable GSM operators, most of whom obtained their licenses during chaotic times of the country's telecom industry, need to submit to reform initiatives spearheaded by the LTA.

But time over time, the LTA says, the operators' response is lukewarm, if not arrogant. LTA insiders have begun to sense a conspiracy of communal resistance amongst GSM operators, an attempt to obstruct further reform efforts in the sector, render the sector regulator irrelevant and wreck gains already made. And indicators are that the resisters are cultivating strategic constituencies and allies in a grand scheme principally meant to leave the Liberian spectrum vulnerable to wanton pillage and thereby deny the state and its people the goodies associated with the sector.

The GSM operators' tramp card, I learned, is that before the evolution of LTA and its reform drive, there had been licenses and frequencies issued them. This presupposes, in their view, that there is no need for the review and standardization of new licenses and frequencies where necessary. By virtue of their logic of possession to old licenses and frequencies, the GSM operators are suggesting that there is no need for reform; that emerging statutes and changing trends in international standards should not apply to Liberia; that chaos and confusion in the Liberian telecom sector should remain unsanitized and that the Liberian spectrum should remain a giveaway for the service providers.

Would the LTA, and by extension the government, succumb to the arrogance of GSM operators? Complacency and lethargy would be fatal to Liberians. In other countries of the Global Village, the telecommunications sector is not left to the whims and caprices of operators. Governments are ensuring that national, regional or international regulators of the sector reign supreme, not unnecessarily or unreasonably, but prudently remain assertive and forceful in making the benefits of the sector pro-people.

There is no doubt about the fact that before the Liberian spectrum rises from the ashes of decadence to the calm shore of stability and sanity, there got to be trying times that might come as byproducts of reforms. The government must be prepared for it; the LTA must gather the ammunition for it; and the people must muster the patience for it, even if it means that reform-allergic investors must serve severe punishments, including revocation of license for failure to heed legal regulations.

Comes May 7, 2008, the deferred deadline for operators to fall in Liberia , all and sundry must be prepared; for the irrational beginning which is the source of abuse of our virgin and lucrative cyberspace must be rationalized with whatever tears and pains necessary.