Communication Operators (Licensing) Regulations, 2001

Government Notice 324 of 2001

Citation
Government Notice 324 of 2001
Primary work
Tanzania Communications Act
Date
31 July 2002
Language
English
Type
Legislation
Tanzania
Tanzania Communications Act

Communication Operators (Licensing) Regulations, 2001

Government Notice 324 of 2001

  • Published in Tanzania Government Gazette
  • Commenced on 2 November 2001
  • [This is the version of this document at 31 July 2002.]
  • [Note: This legislation has been thoroughly revised and consolidated under the supervision of the Attorney General's Office, in compliance with the Laws Revision Act No. 7 of 1994, the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Act (Chapter 356 (R.L.)), and the Interpretation of Laws and General Clauses Act No. 30 of 1972. This version is up-to-date as at 31st July 2002.]
[G.N. No. 324 of 2001]

1. Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Communication Operators (Licensing) Regulations.

2. Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:"Act" means the Tanzania Communications Act1;1Cap. 302"Commission" means the Tanzania Communications Commission established under section 3 of the Act;"communications operators" means postal, telecommunications and radiocommunication operators;"licence" means a licence issued under the provisions of the Act;"licensee" means any person licensed by the Tanzania Communications Commission;"person" means any individual, firm, company, partnership, trust, limited liability Company, joint venture, government entity or other entity.

3. Application for licence

(1)Except for operation of telecommunication systems specified in section 9(3) and postal services specified under section 13(1)(b) of the Act, no person shall operate any telecommunication system or offer postal or courier or telecommunication services without first obtaining a licence from the Commission.
(2)Any person who intends to offer postal, radiocommunication or telecommunications services or to operate a telecommunications system shall file a written application with the Commission.
(3)The applications relating to:
(a)basic telecommunication services;
(b)basic postal service;
(c)international courier services;
(d)land mobile cellular services;
(e)data communications services; and
(f)any other services determined by the Commission from time to time,
shall be submitted for consideration through a tender process or any other method as may be determined by the Commission.
(4)Any applicant under this regulation shall be required to submit to the Commission the following documents, namely—
(a)a certified copy of business licence;
(b)a certificate of incorporation or registration;
(c)business plan for the proposed services;
(d)information on technical proposal for the services to be provided;
(e)information on previous experience in the provision of the services.
(5)Any applicant for radiocommunication licence shall be required to provide documents set out under subregulation 4(a) and (b), technical manual of the intended radio set, and any other information as required under Radiocommunication Regulations 2001.
(6)In addition to the conditions provided for in subregulation (4) of this regulation, an applicant for postal or courier services shall submit the following information, namely:
(a)projected delivery standards;
(b)means of transport available for providing the services; and
(c)storage facilities.
(7)An applicant applying for telecommunication services shall in addition to conditions set out under subregulation (4) submit information on:
(a)interoperability and compatibility of the system with other systems;
(b)availability of emergency services.
(8)Upon receipt of an application, the Commission shall pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 35 of the Second Schedule of the Act, publish a notice of the application in two local newspapers inviting comments from the public.
(9)The Commission shall verify information submitted by the applicant in accordance with subregulations (4), (5), (6) and (7) of this regulation.
(10)If an applicant fails to submit documents or information as required under subregulations (4), (5), (6) and (7) of this regulation, the Commission shall not consider the application and the applicant shall be so informed in writing.
(11)The dismissal of an application under this regulation shall not prevent the applicant from resubmitting another application with the required information except where a tender process is involved.
(12)A resubmitted application shall be treated as a new application.

4. Granting of licence

(1)After an evaluation process is completed, the Commission shall notify the successful applicant and other unsuccessful applicants the results of the evaluation, and where a tender process was involved, make announcement in news media, especially in local news papers, widely circulating in the country.
(2)The Commission shall invite the successful applicant for negotiations before finalising the procedures for the granting of the licence.
(3)Where frequency requirements are involved the licensee shall be required to make a separate application for a radio frequency user licence.

5. Licence fees

(1)Where applicable the licensee shall pay to the Commission the fees as may prescribed by the Commission and such fees shall include—
(a)an initial licence fee payable before the licence is issued;
(b)an annual fee:
(i)in percentage of the gross revenues collected by the licensee for the licensed services; or
(ii)a fixed amount, to be determined by the Commission:Provided the annual fee may be paid on the basis of quarterly gross revenue beginning one year after starting of operations;
(iii)in respect of the assigned frequency, frequency bandwidth or radiocommunication station.
(2)The Commission may from time to time review the licence fees when it deems fit.

6. Duration of licence

The duration of the licence shall vary according to the service provided and shall be determined by the Commission.

7. Renewal of licence

The Commission shall renew the duration of the licence upon request by the licensee for an additional period provided that the licensee is not in material breach of the licence conditions under regulation 12 of these Regulations.

8. Modification of licence

(1)A licensee may at any time submit to the Commission a written request for modifying his licence and the request for modification shall be considered by the Commission to establish whether or not such request is contrary to the provisions of the Act or any Regulations made thereunder and shall respond to the licensee accordingly.
(2)The Commission may, on its own initiative, modify a licence issued pursuant to these Regulations.
(3)Prior to modifying the licence, under subregulation (2), the Commission shall issue a notice in writing, to the licensee stating the following, namely:
(a)the reasons for the proposed modifications;
(b)the modification to the licence that the Commission proposes to make;
(c)the date by which the licensee shall respond, in writing to the proposed modifications, and that date shall be at least twenty-eight days from the date on which the Commission serves the notice on the licensee.
(4)If the licensee does not respond in accordance with regulation 8(3)(c) or if the licensee responds, but subsequently withdraws that response, the Commission may modify the licence as specified in the notice.
(5)Where the licensee responds in accordance with regulation 8(3)(c) the Commission may either—
(a)issue the licence modified in accordance with the notice; or
(b)issue the licence with modifications by incorporating the licensee's response partially or wholly as it may deem fit; or
(c)make no modifications to the licence.

9. Transfer of licence

(1)No licence shall be transferred to another person except with the prior consent of the Commission.
(2)If a licensee proposes to transfer a licence, the licensee and the person to whom the licence is proposed to be transferred to shall jointly submit a request in writing to the Commission for consent of the transfer.
(3)The transferor shall submit the request together with the transferee's documents as stipulated under regulation 3(4) to the Commission for consent of the transfer.
(4)Any application to transfer a licence shall be treated by the Commission in the same manner as a request for the issuance of a licence under these Regulations.

10. Transfer of shares

The majority shareholder licensee shall not transfer subcontract or assign any interest or alienate his shares in the licence without the Commission's approval of the performance guarantee of the new majority shareholder.

11. Performance guarantee

The majority shareholder shall guarantee performance of the licensee in accordance with the terms and conditions of the licence and shall execute a guarantee agreement with the Commission.

12. Material breach

The following events shall constitute material breach:
(a)failure of a licensee to commence construction of the network within six months of the date of execution of the licence;
(b)failure of a licensee to provide service to customers within twelve months of execution of the licence;
(c)continuous interruption of service for a consecutive or combined period of thirty days over any six months period; provided that the interruption is not a result of force majeure;
(d)bankruptcy or filing of any insolvency proceeding against the licensee or adjudication of same in favour of creditors if such proceeding is filed against the licensee;
(e)any proceeding or assignment of assets for the benefit of creditors, or any state of the licensee which may be considered as "insolvency" under any written law in force;
(f)repetition or continuation of an event of infraction following written notice by Commission to cease operation or a combination of the events of infraction;
(g)failure of a licensee to pay licence fees as provided under these Regulations;
(h)failure to comply with any other condition set out in the licence.

13. Prohibition of discrimination

Without prejudice to other obligations imposed on the licensee under these Regulations, a licensee shall not do or omit to do a thing, which is intended to, or is likely to have the effect of discriminating any other licensee in any business activity relating to the licensed services.

14. Suspension or cancellation

(1)The Commission may suspend or cancel a licence as if it is satisfied that—
(a)the licensee is in material breach of licence conditions or the provisions of regulation 12 and has not remedied any such breach within thirty days of receiving notification of the breach from the Commission; or
(b)the licensee is dissolved, or has entered into liquidation, bankruptcy or equivalent proceedings or has made a general assignment for the benefit of creditors; or
(c)the licensee and the Commission have agreed in writing to terminate the licence.
(2)Prior to suspending or cancelling a licence the Commission shall issue a thirty days notice to the licensee to remedy the breach.
(3)Where a licence is cancelled by the Commission, the licensee shall surrender the licence to the Commission within fourteen days from the date of cancellation.

15. Fines

(1)Where a licensee has breached a licence condition or any provisions of these Regulations the Commission shall have power to impose a fine not exceeding the equivalent of 1% of a postal or telecommunication operator's gross annual revenue.
(2)The Commission shall give the operator thirty days written notice with reasons, of the intended fine, during which the communication operator shall have an opportunity to make representations to the Commission.
(3)Where the Commission is of the opinion that the communication operator's reasons are not acceptable, it shall impose the fine on the communication operator.
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History of this document

31 July 2002 this version
Consolidation
02 November 2001
Commenced

Cited documents 1

Legislation 1
1. Tanzania Communications Act 6 citations

Documents citing this one 0