Angry Sierra Leone ISPs at war with government

Some Internet Services Providers (ISPs) have threatened legal action against the Sierra Leone government for breaching an agreement regarding the management of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) Fiber Optic project.

The showdown, which has partially interrupted internet connectivity to a section of the population, came to light last week with the sudden disconnection of three leading ISPs from the fiber optic network.

The government say Afcom, LimeLine and Africell failed to meet a December 16 deadline to pay their fees having been using the service for free since the regional project was swiched on mid last year.

But the affected ISPs accused the government of breaching agreements over payment and criticized its alleged preferential treatment of a new ISP seen as close to Information and Communications Minister, Alhaji Alpha Kanu.

They are particularly upset with the minister`s decision to abandoned a previous arrangement they agreed with his predecessor which has seen them stripped off of their shares in SALCAB.

They say the minister also removed their representatives from the company`s board and imposed his own “stooges.”

Sierra Leone has less than 3 per cent internet penetration which

is almost always slow. It also is used to be among the most expensive.

The ACE Submarine cable project was billed to change the situation.

The US$700M project connects 23 countries, from Europe, providing the mainly African member countries cheaper alternative internet charges.

A consortium that includes France Telecom and sixteen operators from the twenty-three member countries built and manages the undersea cable system.

But an agreement with the World Bank for its funding of the African countries` projects requires joint government-private ownership.

In Sierra Leone, it is known as SALCAB. Government was to control a 51 per cent share with the rest going to the private companies which include the ISPs.

"Not only have the ministry and SALCAB backed out of the agreement, which the World Bank approved and which had cabinet approval, but the ministry now wants to turn SALCAB into a profit making company and is demanding extortionate fees for the operators to use their own internet connection on ACE," a joint statement by the aggrieved ISPs this week reads.

Communications Minister Kanu also stands accused of encouraging “unhealthy competition” by his alleged show of favoritism to a newly launched ISP – Sierra Wifi – which is allegedly operating in the country even though it has not been licensed.

On Wednesday, Mr Kanu reacted angrily with a threat to jailing journalists for their reportage on the matter.

His ministry, meanwhile, has defended the need to change to a profit-making model and said they were close to getting cabinet approval for it.

Deputy Minister of Communication, Theo Nicol, said government was paying huge amount of money to the ACE consortium while operators were enjoying an almost free service.

The introduction of the fiber cable has resulted into a significant drop in charges for internet in the country.

The ISPs pay $200 per 1Mbps, which SALCAB says is far less compared the over $2,000 per 1Mbps they were used to spending when the country sourced its internet connection only through satellite transmission.

With the new arrangement, the ISPs are therefore required to pay US$ 10,000 monthly. But they say this is too much and have accused the government of unlawfully increasing the charges.

SALCAB says it has paid US$ 500,000 on behalf of the ISPs to the ACE consortium and still owed US$ 184,000.

Its Managing Director, Mohammed Sheriff, argued that Sierra Leone has the lowest charges in the West Africa region.

He cited Liberia were ISPs are charged $500 per 1Mbps, Guinea and Gambia $300 to $400, and Ghana $230.

However, six of the nine ISPs hooked to the ACE systems have since conformed with the new arrangement, according to the Ministry of Communications.

The three defiant ones insist they have no way of absorbing the “exorbitant” increases in charges and have also hinted offloading the cost on the end users if push comes to shove.