The West African Regional Director of CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, has criticised pay-TV operator MultiChoice Ghana for what he deems unfair treatment of Ghanaian consumers. His remarks come amid an ongoing standoff between Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George and MultiChoice Ghana. The Minister has given the pay-TV operator until August 7 to reduce its DStv subscription prices, or it risks having its broadcasting license suspended.
In an interview on the Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, August 3, Adomako acknowledged the Minister’s legitimate concerns about pricing, but he stressed that the broader issues of market dominance and poor consumer treatment by MultiChoice should not be ignored.
“MultiChoice has not demonstrated good faith toward Ghanaians. When you are a subscriber to the MultiChoice service and encounter a network problem that cannot be resolved remotely, you will find that when you call MultiChoice, they simply provide you with the contact information of a third-party agent to address the issue. Once the technician arrives, you are required to pay them, and that is very wrong,” he stated.
According to Adomako, this practice violates the fundamental consumer protection principle of “benefit and burden,” which asserts that a service provider receiving payment must also bear the cost of maintaining the service. Adomako argued that the current situation is made worse by the monopoly MultiChoice holds in the pay-TV market. He called for stronger consumer protection and competition laws to curb such practices.
“In law, we have what we call the ‘benefit and burden’ principle. He who enjoys the benefit must also enjoy the burden. I pay a monthly subscription to you, so if there is a problem, you should be paying whoever comes, not me, the subscriber.
“And all of these things are happening because of the monopoly and the dominance that is in this market. In the short to medium terms, we should get our consumer protection laws and competition laws in place so that some of these things can be curtailed,” he stated.
While he cautioned against the August 7 ultimatum on grounds that it could discourage foreign investment, Adomako stressed the importance of building a more competitive and accountable pay-TV market that puts the interests of Ghanaian consumers first.
