Guest Editorial – Comium – the Facts, the Fiction and the Smoke

Comium has been operating as the third GSM service provider in the Gambia since 2006 with a subscriber base of two hundred thousand or more as claimed and is a subsidiary of Luxembourg base global telecommunications giant.

Yet, Comium is the only GSM operator still on 2-2.5G while the world is presently on 4G getting ready to migrate to 5G. As a result, the Royal and Loyal subscribers of Comium have been denied enjoying the latest products and services available in the global telecommunications market.

As it stands, MoICI suspended Comium for failure to settle its 2020-21 licenses payment, and MoICI lifting the suspension in the absence of stringent measures to give room for a more serious investor would amount to a great disservice.

Why is Comium ignored all these years and allowed to operate on 2G without adequate improvement and failure to apply punitive action by the regulatory body PURA?

The regulatory body should be held accountable for not doing enough to ensure that subscribers of Comium are accorded the opportunity to select from the range of the latest quality products and services expected to be made available as it obtains in other countries.

Comium should simply face out and allow a serious investor ready to develop Hitech nationwide infrastructure with excellent countrywide network coverage to make a positive difference and absorb the current employee and impressive customer base. In addition, the new investor must endeavor to provide a fair cost of data bundle, air or top uptime, and better remuneration of employees with other incentives attached, among others.

Presenting a new road map before PURA, as an avenue, should not be enough to allow them back to the market as the esteem customers keep yearning to enjoy the taste of modern privileges in the telecommunications industry.

As stakeholders, we will not accept to be spectators and allow us to be taken for another long ride when what obtains in other parts of the globe is not hidden thanks to technology.