The Gambia Telecommunications Company (GAMTEL) has proposed to increased tariffs to about two-fold or more in order to generate revenue.

The proposed tariff increment by The Gambia Telecommunications Company (Gamtel) Limited has sparked intense public reaction in the country. And last Saturday, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) organized a public hearing at Alliance Franco-Gambienne along Kairaba Avenue to gauge public opinion.

If the proposals are accepted, the cost of local calls could rise from D0.60 per minute to D1.00 per minute; business line rental from D40.00 per month to D100.00 per month, as well as an increase in residential line rentals from D35.00 per month to D70.00 per month.

Justifying the need for the increment, Gamtel officials explained that the last review of the company's call tariffs was done about two decades ago in 1988 and that the cost of telephone line rental was also last reviewed in 1994.

"Given the inflationary trends and other economic indicators over the years, Gamtel argued that the current tarriffs are now below the cost of service provision and that they can no longer be sustained", the company said.

Gamtel further argued that the proposed tariff increases were needed to allow the company begin aligning prices of services with their costs, and to allow the company do away with the current "uneconomic" tariffs that have remained in place without cross reference to the cost of services provided.

Gamtel says that at the current rates, customers are only enjoying the privilege of the services without adequate contribution to the cost of their provision.

Mr Basiru Darboe, Gamtel's customer care manager pleaded with the gathering that Gamtel needs a strong financial base to improve on its services. He believes that the tariff increase would serve as the source and guarantor of that desired financial consolidation of his company's purse.

“We spend a lot of money on maintenance and other logistics to facilitate our work on a daily basis. We want to increase this tariff so that our service delivery can be commensurate with our income,” he said as he urged customers to collaborate with the state-owned communications company to ensure that it could provide services that make life easy for the people.

Consumers and other activists at the event disagreed.

Babucarr Mboge of the Consumer Protection Association of The Gambia (CPAG) believes the company's explanations are unacceptable. He said Gamtel has failed to make any tangible justification to convince the public that there is a real need to increase the tariff.

“Gamtel did not tell us how much they are losing. At least we know that the prices of IT equipment are coming down daily, therefore they cannot base their reasons on that,” he stressed.

Mr Mboge said the problem with Gamtel was not lack of finance, but poor management and further argued that the money used to buy equipments to give out to customers in raffle draws could have been better spent on improving services.

Sulayman Madi Sillah, also of the Consumer Protection Association, furthered his CPAG colleague's argument, saying that Gamtel could have done better home work by conducting surveys to know how much consumers earn in order to determine whether the increment is in the best interest of the customers.

“Your customers have their own special problems to solve before they think of paying expensive tariffs,” he said.

Many other participants also queried the sincerity in Gamtel's explanations that it needed to move its financial figures further away from the red margin, having been a loss leader on its services.

One such participant questioned why Gamtel, despite reporting financial losses over the years, had been paying extra bonus to staff.

Jegan Grey-Johnson, a media executive recalled Gamtel's glory days when it used to be, according to him, “among the best five telecommunication companies in the sub-region”.

He also hinted that the company's problems may be tied to its monopoly status.

“Why is Gamtel, the premier telecommunications company in the country enjoying a monopoly,” he questioned before going further to reject Gamtel's justification as “unconvincing”.

“If they go ahead and introduce it (the tariff increase), they will not succeed because customers cannot afford it and it will encourage other GSM operators to increase their tariffs,” he warned.

Amadou Gaye, Chairman of the Gambia Consumer Protection Association, organizers of the hearing, said it would be difficult to approve Gamtel's tariff plans without involving stakeholders. While emphasising the need for Gamtel to improve its services, he also recommended that the company should conduct a survey to find out whether customers can afford to pay the increment.

Ida Jallow, PURA executive director of Legal, Licensing and Enforcement also said PURA, as regulator of utility services in the country, cannot approve Gamtel's tariff increment plans without the necessary stakeholder oversight.

“This is why we invited all stakeholders to this forum, because we want to leave no stone unturned,” she said.

She said she was delighted at the participation of consumers and promised that PURA would properly consider those views.