SECTOR 2 2.5 Adequate competition legislation/regulation seeks to prevent media concentration and monopolies Lesotho has no competition regulator and there is no competition policy; the draft Competition Bill that was prepared in 2007 has not yet been passed into law. Panellists noted that Lesotho is one of the most liberalised, least developed countries and thus follows a laissez-faire approach. Setting up a business is simple and people or companies that operate media companies rarely register for only one media company. ‘People in Lesotho dream big. What stops them is normally finance.’ Based on the above observation, panellists were of the opinion that crossownership is common in the media industry. For instance, Africa Media Holdings (the publishers of the Lesotho Times) and BAM Group of Companies4 have crossownership. As a result, small media houses find it difficult to compete or enter the market, as the barriers to entry are high. The 2012 Communications Act, which regulates both telecommunications and broadcasting, does not state anything specific about regulating competition in the broadcasting sector. However, in the telecommunications sector, the regulator is empowered to classify licensees as dominant after conducting a market entry and impact assessment, and to adopt competitive safeguards designed to deter a dominant licensee from using its significant market power in one market to impede the development of competition in another.5 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 4 5 26 ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ 1.7 (2015: 3.6, 2012: 2.7, 2010: 1.0, 2008: 1.5, 2006: 1.1) The BAM Group information is available at http://www.the-bamgroup.com/about.html. Lesotho Communications Act No 4 of 2012, Kingdom of Lesotho, Maseru. Section 19 and Section 22 available online at http://www.lca.org.ls/images/stories/communications_act_2012.pdf. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018