MTC, Cell One and Telecom Namibia have been accusing each other of anti-competitive practices.

In a letter to all operators this week, Minister Joel Kaapanda called on the three to stop their "public squabbles".

MTC and Cell One confirmed receipt of the letter, while Telecom would neither confirm nor deny the ministerial communication.

A copy of the letter has been leaked to The Namibian.

Calling the operators to order over the squabbles, the Minister said the public spats over especially interconnect fees had "become a big embarrassment to this Ministry in particular and the Government in general".

MTC cancelled a press briefing it had planned for Wednesday when it received the letter from Kaapanda at the beginning of this week.

The ministerial communication effectively gagged the three players from discussing their differences in public.

In his letter, Kaapanda said, the behaviour of the companies created "the impression that the Ministry is incapable of managing the industry".

In the same breath Kaapanda admitted that the ministry has a "limited lee-way to enforce discipline among the operators" in the absence of a comprehensive legal framework.

The long-awaited Communications Act that will regulate the industry has seen one revision after the other over the past 10 years and is yet to be tabled in Parliament for discussion and approval.

"I wish to inform you that we plan to hold a meeting with all the operators to discuss interconnection fees and other relevant issues in order to reach a consensus which will be mutually acceptable to all the operators," Kaapanda said.

However, it is not clear how the Minister and the operators would come to a solution in the absence of a legal framework.

At the centre of the accusations is what Cell One and Telecom describe as prohibitive and exorbitant interconnect charges.

MTC on its part, charged that the interconnect rates were offered to it by Telecom and Cell One.

Interconnect rates are charges paid by subscribers for calling from one operator's network to the other.

"MTC never imposed the regime (interconnect fees) but accepted what was proposed by both Cell One and Telecom," MTC spokesman Albertus Aoxamub said last week before the Minister's gag order.

MTC charges its subscribers up to N$3,35 per minute to call a landline, while Cell One charges N$1,79.

Cell One customers pay N$1,06 per minute when they call an MTC subscriber.

During the price war Telecom said that its "business is being disadvantaged by the unfair tactics of MTC which charges exorbitant interconnection fees from their network to fixed line".

MTC was the only player in the mobile market until last year when Cell One became the second operator and had built up a sizeable customer base, giving it an edge over Cell One when it comes to dictating terms.

Kaapanda said the issue of interconnect rates "should be discussed behind closed doors" and called on them to "immediately cease with all public confrontation on whatever matters that may constitute anti-competitive behaviour from your competitors".

The Minister is holding a press conference today to brief the media on recent developments in the telecommunications industry.

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