Contrary to recent reports, Sierra Leone needs more cable satellite TV service providers to join the market so as to encourage competition in the country, said Mohamed Makmid Kamara, writing in the Concord Times of Freetown.
“Had it not been the introduction of Showtime TV and GTV [Gateway Television] late last year, DSTV [Digital Satellite Television] would still be dominating the market,” he said, adding that competition will force a reduction in prices.
Kamara sought to refute a June 11 report, which stated that a portion of the public felt cheated by the activities of these service providers.
Sierra Leoneans are not being cheated by agents of satellite TV channels, Kamara maintained. The public outcry was prompted, rather, by the unfriendly cost of acquiring and maintaining these services, the inability of the popular DSTV to cover the 2007/08 European football season, and the restriction of cards and receivers to the service of issuing operator, he said.
“I strongly believe that an increase in the number of services will invariably impact positively on the quality of the services being rendered,” he said. “This is because, by then, competition will come in, and when this happens, it is the subscribers who would benefit. The mobile phone industry is a typical case in point.”
