Vodacom Congo is against the withdrawal of its 2G license by the Congolese state. This is what pushed this telecommunications company to seize the Council of State to obtain from him the suspension of this decree of Emery Okundji, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and new technologies of information and communication.

During the first hearing on Monday, June 11, 2018, Vodacom’s lawyers made an effort to demonstrate the consequences of the withdrawal of this license on the population and the economy of the country. Argument rejected by the opposite party, who believes that this company is not the only Telecom operating in the DRC.

Indeed, the four lawyers representing Vodacom Congo pleaded during this trial to demonstrate the importance of this subject and the admissibility of the case. According to them, the license 2G that holds the company Vodacom Congo had a renewable validity of 20 years, ranging from the period from January 1998 to January 2018 whose payment was paid into the public treasury.

It was amended three times and the extension was duly obtained from the competent authorities who signed the administrative act at the time. But great is their surprise to be accused by the Ministry of PT-NTIC, to have defrauded and treat the procedure followed « irregular ».

They believe that if there is an irregularity, the fault lies with the public administration and not with Vodacom. It is up to the Congolese State to suffer the damage and not this private enterprise.

One of the lawyers explained for several minutes at the hearing, the consequences that would be significant consequences of the withdrawal of this License 2G. these include:

1 ° Negative impact on the network: out of 1600 sites covered by Vodacom, there would be 75% of subscribers who would be disconnected from the network, including 70% of 2G and 5% of 4G; thus the coverage of the subscriber network will decrease from 50% to 30%. As a result, losses of direct and indirect jobs for several families and this will be reflected in the daily lives of these families;
2 ° disconnection of 2G will automatically lead to that of 4G and only the 3G network will be operational;
3 ° consequences will follow: disruption for calls from 9 million subscribers will be reduced by 75%. This could create social unrest and conflict for affected customers who will be harmed in their rights to communicate
(4) the MPESA electronic purse service will be disturbed: it is impossible to carry out any form of transaction whereas it is one of the means used for the payment of civil servants.
5 ° a shortfall for this Telecom which will see its turnover decrease following the departure of 75% of its subscribers.
6 ° the public treasury will suffer: no good turnover resulting in the decrease in the payment of taxes.

Given all these social and economic damage, this matter of public interest deserves urgent attention.
The lawyers of the Minister of PT-NTIC ignore the urgency of the other side and explain to the Council of State that Vodacom is not the only network in the DRC in telecommunications to satisfy the population.

« There will be no havoc if we implement the termination of the License 2G and additional frequencies. It therefore requires the company Vodacom Congo, to comply with the law as other companies do », they say.

Tracy Nzengeli (IFASIC trainee)