January 20, 2018//-Nigerian telecom giant Globacom has been ordered to leave Benin because it has refused to pay a new licensing fee.
The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts (ARCEP), which issued the order, noted that its decision was based on the Glo’s refusal to agree to pay the new licensing fee, while others are paying.
The regulator said it had therefore directed Glo to stop the sale of new SIM cards and recharge cards.
Glo is required to notify its subscribers of the impending cessation of its activities and ask them to use up their available airtime and data within thirty days of the notification sent to them, according to the regulator.
“Glo Mobile will also have to maintain its passive co-location infrastructure with other operators for a period of three months,” ARCEP stated.
In September 2017, negotiations between Glo and the new administration failed.
Glo has been operating in Benin since August 2007, and has grown its market share to about 12% over the eleven years period.
If Glo finally leaves Benin, it would have been the second to leave after Bell Benin Communications SA exited some time back.
That country would then be left with MTN, Libercom, Spacetel and Moov serving subscribers in that country.
Meanwhile, in Ghana Glo’s subscriber base has been declining consistently for years now. At the last count it had about 780,000 subs representing about 2.1 per cent market share.
The company has changed its Ghana Head of Business for at least eight times over the last four years and it recently decommissioned towers and closed customer shops in parts of the country.
By Samuel Dowuona, adomonline.com
