Orange CEO, Mamadou Coulibaly
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against Orange Liberia on Thursday, September 3, 2020, the company says it takes note of the decision and will now execute surcharges on mobile voice and data services.
In February 2019, the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA) released LTA Order #0016-02-25-19, which introduced floor prices on voice and data calls. This order was implemented on September 2019 and led to the cancellation of the widely popular “3 days free calls”. The order mandated that within six months of passage, there would be another automatic imposition of surcharges of $0.008 per minute on voice on-net calls and $0.00065 per MB (or $0.6656 per GB) on data.
Orange decided, in the best interest of its customers and assets in Liberia, to challenge the LTA at the Civil Law Court on the introduction of mobile voice on-net and data surcharges in the new LTA Order #0016-02-25-19, Part IV. Orange said it believed that the increase of mobile and data prices has a negative impact on its customers, as well as its operations in Liberia. After the ruling of the Civil Law Court, 6th Judicial Circuit, Montserrado County, in the Petition for Judicial Review it filed against the LTA, Orange appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia.
With the ruling from the Supreme Court, GSM companies will now await a date from the LTA to commence the imposition of the additional surcharges and increase accordingly the prices of voice and data services.
“Orange strictly abides to the rules, laws and regulations of Liberia as it does in all countries where it operates and is proud to being recognized by the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) as the first taxpayer in Liberia since 2018. The company thanks its valuable customers for their loyalty and remains committed to providing them the best services with the most affordable prices,” a press release from Orange Liberia noted.