According to reports, Multichoice is exiting the Malawian market following a high court ruling that prevents the satellite television service provider company from increasing the price of DSTV service in the country.
In July, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), following a tariff hike by the service providers, sought and obtained an interim injunction that prohibited Multichoice Malawi from increasing DSTV tariffs in the country. On August 8th, a Malawian high court ordered Multichoice to comply with the order, a development that has caused the service provider company to cease offering DSTV services in the country.
The company believes that the court order makes conducting business in the country impossible, more so as defying the high court’s order could mean imprisonment for the company’s staff.
In a statement, the company said: “Given the impact of Multichoice Malawi and an increasingly adverse regulatory environment, Multichoice is therefore left with no option but to terminate DSTV services indefinitely.”
Multichoice’s annual result for the year 2023, which ended on March 31st, 2023, shows that it plays on the continent apart from South Africa and has returned to profitability since the company was publicly listed in 2019.
The CEO said, “We continued to scale our overall subscriber base and benefitted from a strong performance in the Rest of Africa, which delivered a trading profit for the first time since our listing in 2019.”
MACRA’s injunction is said to be based on the fact that since multichoice does not directly offer the DSTV service to the public, it could not set or adjust tariffs for the service in the country
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