Magticom’s position on the interview given by Mr. Kakha Bekauri, the Chairman of Georgian National Communications Commission, on 23 June 2021

In his interview given on 23 June 2021, Mr. Bekauri made it repeatedly clear his incompetence as well as the relevance of the issues raised in Magticom’s public statements.

First of all, we call on Mr. Bekauri to pinpoint the part of Magticom’s public statements that he alleges contains “ill-founded accusations” and his “personal defamation.” If he ignored this call, the public will know who has indulged in “ill-founded accusations.”

As for the main bombast from the accusations voiced by Mr. Bekauri in his interview, in his own words:

• “Magticom disapproves the Commission’s efforts to create an environment that promotes the appearance of new players and encourages competition” (we invite Mr. Bekauri to pinpoint what he found anything like and when he found such disapproval in Magticom’s either public statements or actions);
• “It (implying Magticom) is trying to use its dominant position and not to share its infrastructure with those wishing to enter the market” (we invite Mr. Bekauri to pinpoint what he found anything like and when he found such an attempt in Magticom’s either public statements or actions);
• “We call on Magticom to leave a track of ill-founded accusations for that of constructive cooperation” – each of Magticom’s statements is backed up with the relevant arguments, reasoning, and detailed references or documents. This is what constructive and business-oriented approach is about!

Magticom can partly understand Mr. Bekauri’s helpless attempts to engage in “PR stunts.” However, we’d like to assure him that such approaches fail to disguise his incompetence and ignorance of the rudimentary principles, by which the sector operates. It is his personal obduracy that is leading telecommunications sector and its economy to destruction.

What Mr. Bekauri does and the way he does it are distancing from, not approximation with the European best practices. Referring to the European practices to justify his illegal decisions that have nothing to do with the successful European practices is a manifest example of cynicism. Magticom’s public statements and open, constructive discussions of problems in the sector are due to the fact that the Communications Commission has in essence distanced from the European family and acts contrary to the European best practices. 

Being the market leader for Magticom involves primarily special responsibility, and fair competition is what helps the company develop continually, not allowing the company to slack off. What Magticom disapproves includes: unfair competition, and creation or encouragement of such an environment; the Commission’s disregard for the requirements of law, selective application of law, incompetence, ignorance of the challenges in the sector, and many other subjective factors or acts that put the fragile business environment in the sector and its current players under additional challenges and risks. As Magticom’s public statement makes it clear, Magticom is not opposed to the existence of MVNOs in Georgia, if the relationship is based on a mutually beneficial relationship between businesses that is free of the third party’s (Communications Commission’s) artificial and biased interference. Magticom opposes the Commission’s illegal decision – the regulation binding the mobile network operators to provide MVNOs mandatory (forced) access to their facilities, as the decision finds no match in any of the EU countries.