By James Barton
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has confirmed that it will end its year-long moratorium on issuing new telecom and broadcast licences on 1st October 2023.
The regulator chose to suspend issuing new licences in October last year to facilitate a sector-wide study examining the state of competition, the level of market saturation and barriers to entry for newcomers to the market.
CRAN’s Executive of Communication and Consumer Relations, Katrina Sikeni said that it was necessary that the regulator “continuously studies market dynamics to align the regulatory framework to best practices and emerging trends in regulation to ensure fair competition and facilitate investments into the sector.”
While CRAN has not accepted applications for new licences since last year, it has upheld requests to transfer, update, or revoke licences already in use.
