{"id":9670,"date":"2012-04-12T14:46:57","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T12:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=9670"},"modified":"2012-04-13T16:20:58","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T14:20:58","slug":"mtn-ceo-rebuffsturkcell-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/9670\/mtn-ceo-rebuffsturkcell-accusations\/","title":{"rendered":"MTN CEO rebuffs Turkcell accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Group President and CEO of MTN Group<\/a> Sifiso Dabengwa<\/a> has accused Turkcell<\/a> of making \u201csensationalist allegations\u201d against the group in obtaining a licence in Iran, and dismissed the charges of human rights abuses as \u201cboth false and offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Turkish mobile operator has launched a $4.2 billion lawsuit in a US court accusing MTN of bribing its way to the Iranian licence and alleging human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current media interest in MTN\u2019s operations in Iran (through its minority interest in Irancell), particularly the sensationalist allegations made by Turkcell, is naturally of concern,\u201d Dabengwa said in a statement on Thursday (April 12, 2012).<\/p>\n

The company head said that MTN did not cause Turkcell to lose \u201cits\u201d licence in Iran, as Turkcell has claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Turkcell consortium was never awarded the licence in Iran. In 2004, a consortium that included Turkcell was pre-selected through a bid process to be awarded the second mobile licence.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, certain conditions set by the Iranian government and the regulator needed to be fulfilled. Those conditions were never met. It was Turkcell\u2019s own failures to meet Iranian legal and commercial requirements that caused its exit from the licence process,\u201d Dabengwa said.<\/p>\n

MTN said that in September 2005, the Ministry of ICT authorised the Iranian consortium partners to negotiate with the group, the runner up in the bid process. As a result, a consortium that included MTN as the non-controlling shareholder was awarded the licence.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, any suggestion that Turkcell\u2019s failure to obtain the licence was as a result of any alleged corrupt or improper practices by MTN is unfounded. The allegation that MTN influenced South African foreign policy with regard to its armaments and nuclear position is simply ludicrous and has already been dismissed by the South African government,\u201d the CEO said.<\/p>\n

He stated that what was of particular concern were the allegations that accused MTN of complicity in human rights abuses in Iran.\u00a0 \u201cSuch allegations are both false and offensive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN\u2019s views on human rights are crystal clear. Civic and human rights are central to us as a company, and as individuals. We have clear ethical standards and we expect the people we do business with to abide by them.” ”<\/p>\n

MTN has established an Ethics Committee with responsibility for guiding the company\u2019s approach to such issues and ensuring that it follows best international practices,\u201d Dabengwa continued.<\/p>\n

MTN stressed that one of its core values was to respect human rights and the privacy rights of people in all the markets in which it operates. \u201cWe oppose the abuse of such rights by any party, including governments,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Dabengwa noted \u201ccolourful allegations\u201d over Irancell\u2019s complicity in human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is the case with every government and every telecoms operator, the licence and local law in Iran give certain government agencies the power to access subscriber details and intercept telephone lines.”<\/p>\n

“This is not exceptional.\u00a0 As with all telecoms companies, Irancell is bound by these laws and requirements.\u00a0 This would have been the case irrespective of who Irancell\u2019s shareholders were: whether MTN or Turkcell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN\u2019s role in Iran is as a technical partner.\u00a0 It is a non-controlling shareholder.\u00a0 Fewer than 30 MTN-seconded expatriate staff are employed at Irancell, out of around 2000 people.\u00a0 The CEO and Chief Technical Officer are Iranian shareholder appointees.\u00a0 Whilst MTN\u2019s operational role was significant in the initial stages of the development of Irancell, this has been reduced over the years as skills transfer has taken place,\u201d Dabengwa said.<\/p>\n

MTN also pointed to some \u2018fanciful allegations\u2019 concerning software and equipment provided to Irancell by MTN.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can emphatically state that whatever equipment MTN has acquired for Irancell was for normal business reasons.\u00a0 This equipment is of identical specification to that used in our other MTN operations.”<\/p>\n

“To suggest that we intended to acquire such equipment with the purpose of enhancing the Iranian government\u2019s capacity to monitor its citizens outside the law or restrict their access to services is offensive. For example, some of the equipment was purchased to develop our \u201chomezone\u201d offerings, which allows reduced rates within specific areas and thus expands the offering to more customers.”<\/p>\n

“Moreover, contrary to allegations made by some in the media, Irancell is not in a position to cut off Skype or any other Internet site as we do not own or control the international gateway,\u201d Dabengwa said.<\/p>\n

Similarly, MTN stated that Irancell\u2019s data warehousing software was acquired to perform customer analytics, a normal activity in the telecoms industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen MTN entered Iran there were only around four million mobile subscribers in total. Today, mobile penetration is almost 100% and more than 60% of Irancell\u2019s 35 million subscribers are under 25 years old.\u00a0 They are using our services to communicate with each other in ways that were unimaginable five years ago.”<\/p>\n

“Mobile telecoms have been a powerful force for social and economic liberation in the developing world.\u00a0 We are proud of the part we are playing in this change. New markets bring new challenges.”<\/p>\n

“There are new ethical dilemmas presented by this new technology and the potential for their manipulation by governments and citizens for unethical means.\u00a0 We do not shrink from these debates. But discussion has to be founded on facts not fantasy,\u201d Dabengwa continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur core belief is that people, irrespective of the governments they live under, gain from being participants in this technological revolution.\u00a0 Excluding them from the benefits of this new technology because of their government\u2019s policy is no answer.”<\/p>\n

“My role is to drive forward our business for the benefit of customers, communities and shareholders. Nothing in the current media focus will distract us from pursuing the huge opportunities for the company to build on our past success, and reinforcing our position as the developing world\u2019s leading telecoms company,\u201d the group\u2019s chief concluded.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turkcell will struggle to bring MTN case in US<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Turkcell files $100m defamation case against MTN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

MTN, The Fish, and Project Snooker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Why Turkcell is filing MTN lawsuit in the US<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

MTN\/Turkcell talks break down amid extortion claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

MTN, TurkCell in talks over bribery lawsuit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Turkcell looking to bring case against MTN in US<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Group President and CEO of MTN Group Sifiso Dabengwa has accused Turkcell of making “sensationalist allegations” against the group in obtaining a licence in Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26,1361,28,1890,1292],"class_list":["post-9670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-headline","tag-irancell","tag-mtn","tag-sifiso-dabengwa","tag-turkcell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9670"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9675,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9670\/revisions\/9675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}