PURA’s prescription to place Comium on suspension is timely and appropriate as businesses have a right to live and a right to die based on the decisions they make during the course of doing business. 

Comium was a technological leader when they entered the market. Their reluctance to upgrade their platform over the years made them loose  significant market share to the last entrant Qcell. 

Comium opted to milk their network and they have come to the end of the road because a market share of less than 39,000 active subscribers will not make them viable in a competitive market.

The only viable option for comium is to find a strategic partner that is willing to inject capital in the business inorder to invest in 5G technology. 

Investing in 5G will automatically make them a market leader once again. Alternatively, they can sell off their licence to an investor that is willing to reorganise the company. 

Tech businesses such as telcos must always be at the cutting edge to ward off competition and maintain relevance. 

PURA should have arrested the capital flight that has been the modus operandi of COMIUM for over  10 years. 

They are the only 2.5G Network in the Gambia and their subscriber base deserves better.

By Nyang Njie