Tatenda Zengeni and Genna Robb
The recent public outcry in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria over a decision by Multichoice to increase its subscription fees points again to the competition issues that characterise the pay-tv market in the continent. Due to high prices, subscribers in Zimbabwe have resorted to buying decoders and paying their subscription in South Africa, which is relatively cheaper.
Shingie Chisoro Dube
In May 2015, the Competition Commission of South Africa (CCSA) lodged an investigation into cartel conduct by major banks in the foreign currency exchange market affecting the South African rand. The CCSA alleges that certain banks have colluded to fix prices in currency pairs involving the rand. The banks alleged to be involved in the collusive arrangement, called the “ZAR domination” include BNP Paribus, BNP Paribus South Africa, CitiGroup Inc, Citigroup Global Markets (Pty) Ltd, Barclays Bank Plc, Barclays Africa Group Ltd, JP Morgan Chase & Co, JP Morgan South Africa, Investec Ltd, Standard New York Securities Inc and Standard Chartered Bank. The above traders in foreign currencies are under investigation for directly or indirectly fixing prices on bids, offers and bid-offer spreads with regard to spot, futures and forwards currency trades.
Nicholas Nhundu
Econet Wireless is the dominant player in the Zimbabwean mobile telecoms industry with a total of 6.5 million active subscribers in 2014 while NetOne and Telecel held 3.2 million and 2.1 million, respectively.1 In order to promote investment and enhance competition, the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) is in the process of finalizing infrastructure sharing rules for broadband and other ICT infrastructure which are expected to be implemented by August 2015.
Lauralyn Kaziboni
In 2007, the Competition Tribunal of South Africa (“Tribunal”) prohibited the merger between Telkom SOC SA Limited (“Telkom”) and Business Connexion (“BCX”), following a recommendation for prohibition from the Competition Commission of South Africa (“Commission”). At this time, Telkom was the de facto monopoly provider of fixed line infrastructure and services and BCX was an ICT provider.
Thando Vilakazi
In March, CCRED partnered with the Zimbabwe Competition and Tariff Commission to host the inaugural Annual Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) week at the magnificent Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The 5-day programme included a series of applied core and advanced short learning programmes on competition and regulation, and a two-day conference with contributors and participants from regulators, competition authorities, the legal profession and economists from several countries.
Thando Vilakazi
Representatives of competition authorities from various African countries frankly discussed cartel penalties, settlement and leniency programmes at the CCRED Annual Competition and Economic Regulation Week in March 2015 in Zimbabwe. In this discussion, authorities highlighted the challenges of enforcement actions involving complex collusive conduct, the need for deterrent penalties, the lack of local case precedent developed through rigorous contested hearings, and the resource constraints which hamper enforcement actions and deterrence in particular.
Anthea Paelo
The deregulation of the South African airline industry in 1991 paved the way for the entry of a number of low cost carriers (LCCs). However, of the eleven airlines to enter the industry between 1991 and 2012, only one is still in operation. Other privately owned airlines such as Nationwide, Velvet Sky and 1time operating from 1995 to 2008, 2011 to 2012 and 2004 to 2012, respectively, have exited even after remaining in the market for significant periods.
Jonathan Klaaren
A panel at the recent ACER Week Conference in Victoria Falls discussed and give views on a question that is often neglected in discussions of competition law and policy: institutional design. The speakers came from a number of competition authorities and economic regulators from the Southern African region and played prominent – sometimes preeminent – roles in the operation of these bodies.
Shingie Dube
The spread of large supermarket groups across the Southern and East African region raises important questions about local supplier capabilities, the ability of local suppliers to access supermarket group value chains, and the competitive landscape that the entry of large multinational retail groups creates. Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid expansion of South African supermarket chains into Southern Africa. However, recently we have also seen the growth into South Africa and Zimbabwe of Choppies, a supermarket chain from Botswana, which plans to open a further 31 new stores in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) by the end of May 2015, and to grow into the Kenyan market by the end of 2015.
Thando Vilakazi
The past year has been an interesting one in terms of developments in the enforcement of competition law in various African countries. Through the Review, we have analysed several of these developments with a view to sharing information and building a knowledge base on key cases and market arrangements that have an effect not only in domestic markets, but regionally as well.
Tatenda Zengeni and Pamela Mondliwa
This article considers the history of anticompetitive conduct and the growth in demand for cement products in Africa as a context for understanding the recent global merger between Lafarge and Holcim, two of the largest cement companies in the world, and the growth of Dangote Cement and others in the region.
Anthea Paelo
The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) in October 2014 published merger guidelines to help clarify procedural issues regarding the notification of mergers. The CCC is relatively new having been established in January 2013. In the last year alone, the CCC has approved mergers worth over US$41 billion.
Anthea Paelo
In a public seminar hosted by CCRED in June 2014, panelists from different telecommunications companies debated the revised call termination rates announced by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), with some arguing that the severe reductions in rates overall, although necessary, would significantly reduce revenue to operators.
Lauralyn Kaziboni and Reena Das Nair
Competition investigations on abuse of dominance by near-monopoly beer producers have typically been limited to national boundaries and within the jurisdiction of single national competition authorities. However, it is increasingly recognised that viewing transgressions as neatly falling within political borders is restrictive, and often misses the ‘bigger picture’ of the firm’s overall strategy and conduct.
Anthea Paelo and Pamela Mondliwa
Kenya’s recent competition case against DSTV in the pay-tv industry is only one more in a growing list of complaints relating to exclusive agreements in the industry in African countries. In this particular case, Zuku, a satellite pay-tv provider and competitor to DSTV, approached the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to protest MultiChoice’s (DSTV’s parent company) exclusive rights over content such as broadcasting of the English Premier League (EPL).
Lebogang Nleya and Genna Robb
In the April edition of this Review, we discussed some emerging competition issues with mobile money in Africa. In a number of countries the telecoms companies that provide the mobile payments service have established positions of significant market power which have raised concerns of potential abuse of dominance.
Tatenda Zengeni
The growth of the poultry industry in African countries and its potential for labour absorption has attracted significant investments to the sector. The strategic importance of the sector has also resulted in the proliferation of policies to support local producers in order to gain from the potential for localised growth.
