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The regulatory landscape of Eswatini’s telecommunications sector has faced a decisive compliance test. In an official ruling released under General Notice No. 5/2026, the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM) issued its final decision regarding a high-stakes infrastructure dispute between state-owned Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and private internet service provider Jenny Internet Eswatini.
The regulatory intervention targets a critical element of national security and economic fair play: Self-provisioning of international data infrastructure.
The friction began when EPTC filed a formal complaint accusing Jenny Internet of unlawfully establishing a direct, cross-border fibre optic link entering Eswatini through the Malutha Border Post. By laying its own cross-border infrastructure, Jenny Internet effectively bypassed EPTC’s mandatory national backbone network.
According to EPTC, this direct bypass directly violated Section 53 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2013 and Regulation 5 of the Electronic Communications (Facilities-Sharing) Regulations, 2016, which protect the integrity and centralized management of the nation’s digital gateway.
Following a rigorous investigation that featured detailed written and oral submissions from both telecom entities, ESCCOM confirmed that Jenny Internet’s infrastructure play at Malutha did indeed break the law governing national backbone interconnection and mandatory infrastructure sharing.
However, ESCCOM’s ruling, signed by Acting Chief Executive Officer Fikile Gama, was not entirely one-sided. The commission’s indepth analysis unearthed a systemic issue: EPTC had failed to properly fulfill its obligations regarding backbone access, quality of service, and infrastructure sharing.
Essentially, while Jenny Internet broke the rules to get its data across the border, EPTC’s slow or restrictive infrastructure access policies likely created the bottleneck that caused the bypass in the first place.
To permanently settle the matter and stabilize market standards, ESCCOM issued three binding orders:
First, Jenny Internet must pay an administrative fine of E150,000.00 to ESCCOM on or before 30 July 2026 for the legal infraction. They are strictly ordered to use EPTC’s backbone connectivity for all international data traffic moving forward.
Second, EPTC is ordered to process all infrastructure sharing applications from Jenny Internet expeditiously and in pure good faith. EPTC must ensure that acceptable technical and service standards are met so private ISPs can serve consumers effectively.
Finally, both parties are legally directed to continue cooperating in good faith to guarantee lawful interconnection arrangements aligned with national regulations.
THE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS: This ruling is a clear statement from ESCCOM. For private players like Jenny Internet, it sends a message that bypassing the national digital gateway for the sake of speed or cost will result in swift fines. For parastatals like EPTC, it is a sharp warning that holding a monopoly over national infrastructure comes with the legal duty to share it fairly, quickly, and professionally.
THE ECONOMIC TAKEAWAY: Eswatini’s digital economy relies entirely on affordable, stable bandwidth. By forcing EPTC to open up access and forcing Jenny Internet to follow legal channels, ESCCOM is trying to build a balanced, transparent telecoms market. True market stability will only be reached when our state-backed systems match the operational speed of the private sector. Execution over theory wins.
Telecom regulatory shifts directly impact business operating costs, data speeds, and tech investments across the Kingdom. Stay informed with verified, corporate-tier media.
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