The Competition and Consumer Protection (CCPC) Tribunal in Abuja, on Thursday, fined MultiChoice Nigeria Limited the sum of N25 million for disregarding its restraining order on tariff increase.
A three-member panel of the tribunal chaired by Thomas Okosun had in a judgement on Tuesday, ordered MultiChoice to produce its audited financial statement to enable it to determine the appropriate penalty for the contempt.
This, the panel ruled, is to “enable the tribunal to determine the appropriate penalty to impose on MultiChoice for being in contempt of the orders of this honourable tribunal made in March.”
The Competition and Consumer Protection (CCPC) Tribunal in Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered MultiChoice to produce its audited 2021 financial report for violating the tribunal’s restraining order on tariff increase.
A lawyer, Festus Onifade, and the Coalition of Nigeria Consumers had jointly sued MultiChoice – DSTV and GOTV in Nigeria – and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) over the pay television giant’s increase of the subscription rates for its services and other products.
The tribunal, on 30 March, granted the ex-parte application directing parties to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the whole suit.
However, MultiChoice disregarded the restraining order by going ahead to increasing the price of its products and services. The pay television argued that the process for the tariff hike had been configured and deployed before the interim order was made by the tribunal.
In determining the sanction, on Thursday, the tribunal said MultiChoice breached the order of 30 March and was liable to pay the fine.
“The 1st defendant (MultiChoice) is in contempt of this tribunal,” the tribunal chairman, Mr Okosun said.
Citing Section 51 of the FCCPC Act, 2018, Mr Okosun said, “we hereby order the 1st defendant, MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd, to pay the sum of N25 million only as an administrative penalty for contempt of this honourable tribunal.”
Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the claimant, Mr Onifade, had urged the tribunal to commit MultiChoice management to prison for violating its order asking parties to stay action over plans by MultiChoice to increase the price of its products and services.
Mr Onifade drew the tribunal’s attention to Multichoice’s “history of violating court orders.”
However, Multichoice’s lawyer, Jamiu Agoro, argued that because of his application challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal, “this court is to first inquire whether it has the jurisdiction to determine the application” – an argument the panel dismissed on Tuesday while ruling on the defendant’s preliminary objections.
Mr Agoro contended that the price hike arrangement had been set in motion before the 30 March order was made by the tribunal.
He challenged Mr Onifade’s procedure of instituting the contempt proceedings by failing to first serve Forms 48 and 49 on the alleged contemptnor (MultiChoice) before filing the application.
Similarly, the Multichoice lawyer argued that since the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, his client “cannot be held to be in contempt of an order which it had applied that this tribunal sets aside.”
But the tribunal faulted all of Mr Onifade’s objections on Tuesday while delivering judgement on the substantive suit.
Suit against MultiChoice dismissed
This newspaper reported earlier that the tribunal dismissed Mr Onifade’s suit on the grounds that the power to regulate prices of goods and services does not reside in the FCCPC, the regulatory agency.
The panel said the power to regulate the prices of goods and services lies with the president.
“Only the president has the powers to regulate or fix prices of goods and services under stipulated circumstances which do not apply in this instance,” the tribunal held.
In its findings, the tribunal said Mr Onifade and the Coalition of Nigeria Consumers failed to prove that MultiChoice abused its market dominance in the pay television market.
The tribunal chairman, who read the verdict, held that the claimants failed to demonstrate how the price hike occasioned “psychological trauma, hardship or violation of their human rights.”
In addition, Mr Okosun noted that MultiChoice cannot be held liable for the failure of the FCCPC to perform its statutory duty of adjudicating complaints from aggrieved consumers.
While the tribunal ordered FCCPC to investigate Mr Onifade’s claims concerning ‘pay-as-you-view’ subscription model, it held that the consumer protection commission took appropriate measures to probe the concerns raised in the claimant’s suit but for price hike because it is “beyond the mandate of the commission”.
The pay-TV, Multichoice Nigeria headquartered in South Africa, did an upward review of its subscriptions, while the suit was pending.
Multichoice had announced new rates for its offerings in Nigeria, the firm’s latest price increase that is bound to irk its customers.
The firm said from April 1, subscribers will pay more for all its bouquets and its premium package on DSTV will cost N21,000, no longer N18,400.
Compact Plus which cost N12,400 before will now go for N14,250, while Compact will cost N9,000 instead of N7,900.
The complainant, while arguing his case, said he resorted to the tribunal due to the refusal of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to hear and determine two of his complaints bordering on tariff increases in May and June 2020.
The tribunal had in July slammed a N100, 000 fine on Multichoice’s lawyer for failure to file all necessary documents and applications in the suit.
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