The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has been ordered to pay Malawi Mobile (MML) USD 66 million for breach of contract. According to the Nation newspaper, Justice Frank Kapanda of Blantyre High Court's Commercial Division made the ruling, and the regulator did not defend the case. Macra revoked MML's licence in 2005, arguing that it had failed to roll out its network on time, but MML contended in court that the revocation was in breach of contract as it was supposed to roll out the service 12 months after the launch of the company. MML lawyers George Makiyi and David Kanyenda asked the court to compensate their client with lost profits for a period of 12 years until 2017 when MML's licence would have expired. Kapanda said he was surprised that Macra decided not to call any witnesses to defend the case as it had filed four witness statements with the court and served them to MML. MML's four witnesses included former Macra board chairman Abdul Pillane, lawyer Khuze Kapeta, Patroklos Tsaperas and Michele Loiuse Scanlon. The judge said the office of the Attorney General, which was sued alongside Macra, did not file any witness statement and did not call any witness to testify. Kapanda went ahead to rule in favour of MML and noted that the defendants' lawyer failed to break down and discredit the evidence of MML's four witnesses.
