Samuel Dowuona, Managing Director of TechGh24.com, has raised concerns about the regulator’s financial motivations following the 5G licensing agreement awarded to NextGen Infraco, a company formed just a week before the contract approval.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on ChannelOne TV’s The Point of View, Mr. Dowuona expressed his worries that the regulator appears to prioritize companies with substantial financial resources over fostering overall market growth. He emphasized the lack of a competitive market in the 5G deal.
“I also made a point in my article that we have more or less in the market, a monster. The last time we had the show I told you that the regulator is to be blamed. The regulator thinks to follow the money now, instead of doing what will make the entire market grow together,” Dowuona stated. “They follow the money, and whoever has the money, they just follow the money and that is where we have landed now. If we still go back to following money, it’s going to be a bit worrisome.”
He criticized the decision not to distribute the contract among multiple players to avoid market monopolization, arguing that continuing such practices will perpetuate market imbalances.
“We can’t say that because others failed to invest, and so they are now far behind, we should also sit down and allow the market to run in such a way that one day we end up in a monopoly, we can’t do that. Once there’s Significant Market Power (SMP) in the market, we also need to begin to be doing things in a certain way to just acknowledge that there’s a SMP,” Dowuona elaborated.
He added, “We can’t just go ahead and auction licenses when we know very well that we’re going to end up in a situation where only one player is going to be buying the license… Like every player starting to roll out the 5G at the same time. The small wing is important, it means we’re taking steps to correct the market imbalances… So long as we have SMP in the market, we shouldn’t be doing things we did in the past, otherwise, we’re not going to correct the market imbalances.”
Dowuona clarified that his criticism is not directed at any specific company but at the systemic issues in the market. “This time it’s MTN, but it could have been anybody… This is not intended to go at a particular player. There’s an SMP in the market let’s just acknowledge that.”
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