Benin allows MTN to resume mobile phone network

Benin's telecommunications authority has allowed South African-listed MTN to resume its mobile phone service in the West African state after a two-month suspension over a contract dispute, the regulator said.

"The MTN Group has accepted the conditions laid out in the new fees structure," Victor Tokpanou, Vice-President of Benin's ATRPT telecoms authority said late on Saturday on national television. The authorisation for MTN to restart its mobile service was effective from Saturday.

Tokpanou said MTN, Sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cellphone operator, had agreed to pay the new 30 billion CFA francs fee for a 10-year operating licence demanded by the Benin authorities. This represented a 500 pct rise over the previous operator fee.

He added the settlement of the contract dispute followed talks between Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi and his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki, and also with MTN executives.

In mid-July, in a move that cut off nearly 1 million subscribers, ATRPT suspended the networks of both MTN and Atlantique Telecom, which is controlled by Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (Etisalat).

The regulator demanded they sign new contracts because it said both had changed their names and operators in Benin without its permission.

Atlantique Telecom was allowed to resume its Moov mobile service earlier this month after agreeing to pay the new operator fee.

MTN, whose Benin network was previously operated by Spacetel Benin under the Areeba brand, had 514,000 subscribers in Benin in March. Atlantique Telecom's Moov network, previously part of the Telecel group, has around 450,000.

Benin has around 8 million people.

The country's other operators Libercom, a subsidiary of state fixed-line company Benin Telecom, and Bell Benin, owned by local businessman Issa Salifou, had accepted the new contracts with the increased licence fees, officials said.

In August, Benin granted a mobile phone service operating permit to neighbouring Nigeria's second biggest operator Globacom.