- Justice Peter Mulwa on April 5 ordered the telecom sector regulator to address the concerns raised by GeoNet and further make an impartial decision that will promote fair competition.
- The concerns raised by Geonet are CAK’s failure to address issues concerning the interconnection with Safaricom and the ‘unlawful double billing’ by Telkom.
Image: FILE
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has 60 days to respond to interconnection and double billings issues raised by a US-based Kenyan telecommunication firm against two local mobile network operators.
Justice Peter Mulwa on April 5 ordered the telecom sector regulator to address the concerns raised by GeoNet and further make an impartial decision that will promote fair competition.
The concerns raised by Geonet are CAK’s failure to address issues concerning the interconnection with Safaricom and the ‘unlawful double billing’ by Telkom.
Geonet claimed it has continued to suffer financial loss, damage, and extreme inconvenience through the regular inaction of the CA.
Justice Mulwa said CAK breached certain sections of the constitution by failing to respond to Geonets concerns.
“The CAK is required to be responsive, prompt, effective, impartial, and equitable in the provision of services to promote fair competition and merit as the basis of its provision of services,” he said.
Geonet and Safaricom entered into an interconnection agreement on 24 October 2016.
Safaricom accordingly interconnected its telecommunication system with that of Geonet telecommunication systems to form an interconnection link.
Clause 6 of the agreement provided for ‘billing and payment’. The documents reveal that as of April 30 2019, Geonet owed Safaricom Sh 30,013,757.
Consequently, on July 42019, Safaricom issued Geonet with a notice of termination of the agreement and suspension of the link at the expiry of 30 days from the date of the said notice.
Aggrieved, Geonet lodged a case in court.
It sought orders against the suspension of the link.
The Court in its Ruling delivered on December 21 2020 gave Geonet a temporary injunction for 60 days where Safaricom was restrained from interfering with the telecommunication interconnectivity link.
There was a rider that Geonet was to deposit a bank guarantee of Sh 15,000,000 within 30 days.
Geonet was unable to comply with the order to deposit the bank guarantee, and the temporary injunction lapsed.
Safaricom subsequently went ahead to suspend the interconnection link.
On June 27 2022, Geonet wrote to the CA requesting it to compel Safaricom to reinstate the interconnection link.
During the hearing, GeoNet told Justice Mulwa that when it requested the CA to intervene between them and Safaricom on grounds of public interest, CA barely responded to their request.
Geonet also informed the CA of its concerns that Telkom was unlawfully double billing it.
The CA responded stating that it will address the issue but it remains unresolved.
The CA’s argument was that the dispute between Geonet and Telkom could be resolved under the dispute resolution mechanism in the agreement, therefore, the letter for the CA to intervene was premature.
The Judge declined to compel the CA to direct Safaricom to provide interconnection services to GeoNet but instead said the authority should respond to their issues.
The Judge in directing CAK to intervene said the law empowers the authority even on its own motion to take steps to rectify missteps taken by the parties in the telecommunications industry.
“The CA’s role is that of a referee and where disputes arise, it must take steps to resolve the same in accordance with the law. The CAK should not leave it to the parties themselves to decide the best decision to take,” he said.