The National Communications Authority (NCA) has hinted to Citi Business News it will meet the management of Expresso over the company’s performance this week.
The meeting, according to the NCA is to review the operations of the company due to its growing financial and operational challenges.
According to the NCA, Ghana’s sole Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operator, Expresso , now holds over 125,000 subscribers as at the end of December 2015, representing a total market share of 0.36%.
It is believed that the company’s challenges are from its affiliation with Sudatel from Sudan, which has made it difficult for Expresso to raise capital locally and internationally due to sanctions placed by the UN on Sudan.
In 2013/2014, Sudatel initiated moves to sell its shares in Expresso, a development that granted the former National Security Coordinator, Colonel Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (retired) the power of attorney to run the telecommunications company.
Speaking in an interview with Citi Business News, the Director – General of the NCA, William Mathew Tevie said the meeting was to help the regulate understand the challenges of Expresso.
“Expresso is one of the CDMA’s companies that we licensed. And I must admit that CDMA has been struggling a little bit around the world because it has been over taken by 3G”, he said adding that “basically what we can see is that we can see Expresso struggling on the market”.
Mr. Tevie disclosed that, Expresso’s subscription base has reduced sharply, hitting the bottom line.
“They are not able to do new investments and they are not able to move the organization forward”, he said.
Mr. Tevie traced some of the difficulties to the Sudanese investors, whose hands have been tied due to sanctions from the United Nations and the United State.
“We heard rumors about them trying to sell the organization but as a regulator we have not had any formal request from them or any organization requesting for us to meet them”, he said.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana