In a passionate statement during his vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, January 30, Sam George, the Minister-Designate for Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovations, addressed the Significant Market Power (SMP) classification of MTN Ghana.

The SMP tool, which has been a topic of debate in the country’s telecom industry, is meant to address market dominance, ensuring fairness and competitiveness.

However, George criticized the previous administration for misusing the tool as a punitive measure against MTN, rather than leveraging it for the intended purpose of correcting market distortions.

“The previous administration used the SMP tool as a punitive measure. The SMP tool is meant to be a corrective measure.

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In fact, since the Minister declared MTN an SMP, their market share has grown, instead of fixing the distortion in the market,” George pointed out, emphasizing the failure of the tool to address the very issues it was designed to solve.

Since MTN was classified as an SMP, many have questioned its effectiveness.

Despite the classification, the telecom giant’s market share continued to increase, leading critics to argue that the policy had the opposite effect of its intended purpose.

George made it clear that under his watch, the tool would be used to create a level playing field for all telecom companies.

“We will use the SMP as a corrective tool, not to punish an investor who has made a solid investment in our country over the past years, but also to make sure that we create an equitable playing space for all the players so that the customer has a multiplicity of options to benefit from,” he asserted, signaling a shift in strategy that aims to promote a healthy competitive environment.

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