NaCC slams Swakop municipality and waste managers

The Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC), the Swakopmund municipality, Rent-A-Drum and a Finnish company, Molok Oy, are set to reach a settlement after the deep-waste collection business was found to be anti-competitive.

NaCC spokesperson Dina Gowases says the municipality has been accused of exclusively making use of Molok Oy’s deep-waste collection system, which is not compatible with other systems on the market.

“In procuring deep-collection bags, the municipality specifically supplies Molok Oy bags, which can only be sourced from Rent-A-Drum.

“As such, the municipality has introduced a product which is only supplied by a single company, which is also solely responsible for its maintenance,” Gowases says.

She says the Finnish company has appointed Rent-A-Drum as their sole distributor in the Namibian market.

Based on these findings, the commission concluded that the conduct of the parties had adverse effects on competition, Gowases says.

The parties have so far been afforded a chance to make written submissions or oral representations to defend themselves.

“While emphasising that a final decision has not been made in this matter, the commission notes the provisions of Section 40 of the Competition Act and confirms its willingness to engage the respondents to settle this matter and to have proceedings under Section 38 of the Competition Act – should that be an option they wish to pursue,” she says.

NBC ON THE RADAR

The commission has also concluded an investigation into the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), which has been accused of anti-competitive tendencies and unilateral conduct.

In September 2019 as part of its cost-cutting measures, NBC suspended the broadcasting of One Africa TV on its Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Network for failure to pay a flat annual carriage fee.

One Africa alleged that the public broadcaster did not explain how removing the TV service from multiplex would result in savings.

The commission has found that the denial of access to other broadcasters has reduced the choice of services for consumers and has limited potential advertisers.

“The investigation identified the relevant market as the market for the use of Namibian DTT network, which is upstream to provide free-to-air broadcasting, which is downstream market.

“Following its investigation the commission concluded that the relevant provisions of part 2 of the Competition Act have been infringed . . . based on the unilateral conduct of the NBC to remove other free-to-air broadcasters from the DTT network.

“The commission therefore proposes to make a decision in that regard. However, it is important to note that no final decision has been made, and the commission wishes to give the NBC an opportunity to make written submissions and/or oral representations to the commission,” Gowases says.

She says the fact that the DTT policy guidelines imposes these provisions is clear evidence that the DTT infrastructure is essential for other market participants.