Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has filed a lawsuit against ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) regarding their decision to increase mobile termination rates by seven times.
In a petition submitted to the Milimani High Court, Omtatah is seeking to overturn the new call termination charges set by the government at Sh0.41, and is urging the court to enforce the scientifically determined rate of Sh0.06, as recommended by the CA.
Omtatah argues that the recently introduced MTR of Sh0.41 by the government violates clear provisions of the Constitution and the law.
The Senator, who has sued the Minister, CA, and the Attorney-General Justin Muturi, expresses strong dissatisfaction with their decision to set the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) for calls per minute at an arbitrary Sh0.41 instead of the much lower scientifically derived MTR of Sh0.06 per minute, which was recommended by a network cost study commissioned by the Authority to determine interconnect charges.
“This application and the petition are extremely urgent because on March 1, 2024, the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) unilaterally imposed the new Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) of Sh0.41 per minute. Though it reduced the MTR from Sh0.58 per minute, it is seven times more than the Sh0.06 recommended by the consultants the Authority hired to conduct a network cost study two years ago,” Omtatah says.
