Published: September 7, 2026
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County — Residents of Grand Bassa can now submit complaints about billing, data depletion and poor network quality directly to the Liberia Telecommunications Authority in Buchanan, rather than traveling to Monrovia, after the regulator opened its first decentralized service center in the county on Friday.
The center provides subscribers with a local point of contact with the LTA when disputes with telecommunications operators remain unresolved, and the authority says it is the first step in a decentralization program that will extend to other counties.
Patrick R. Honnah, LTA commissioner for consumer, public affairs, and universal access, said the Buchanan office is intended to make regulatory services accessible to people who live outside the capital.
“We always say Monrovia is not Liberia,” Honnah said.
Consumers should first take complaints to their service provider, Honnah said, and bring the matter to the LTA only if the issue is not resolved. He said the authority has handled a number of complaints about mobile data disappearing faster than subscribers expected, and that investigations sometimes trace the loss to applications, including social media platforms, running in the background on customers’ phones. Other complaints have proved legitimate and were settled through engagement with the operators, he said.
Honnah said the public can also reach the LTA on its consumer support line, 2245.
LTA Chairman Clarence K. Massaquoi said decentralization has to mean more than an address in the county, and called for qualified Grand Bassa residents to be hired at the new center.
“We cannot just be there physically. Let’s be there in terms of responsiveness, but also let’s be there in terms of empowerment for the locals,” Massaquoi said.
He said the authority should prioritize county residents when it runs awareness campaigns, promotions, and surveys in Grand Bassa, and that young people and students could be engaged in community outreach that would give them experience while helping the LTA educate subscribers.
Massaquoi said the LTA is considering extending decentralized services to other counties, including Bomi and River Gee, and is exploring arrangements that would allow the Buchanan center to serve neighboring counties. He said a permanent regional LTA office in Grand Bassa is also possible.
The center will also serve community radio stations, which Massaquoi said face financial and logistical challenges traveling to Monrovia to resolve regulatory matters. He said the LTA intends to visit the stations, assess their difficulties, and help them meet broadcast standards rather than rely on enforcement alone.
“We want to come closer to you to help you be in compliance,” he said.
Grand Bassa County Superintendent Karyou Johnson called the opening a historic milestone for the county and said the county administration worked with the LTA to identify space for the center.
“For years, our people traveled to Monrovia to seek telephone services or get information. Today you are bringing government closer to the people,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he expects the office to provide fair and accessible service to communities across the county, and pledged the administration’s support.
Young people at the ceremony welcomed the initiative but said the LTA should decentralize its training for content creators across Grand Bassa and consider local communication professionals and youth for volunteer and employment openings at the center.
Sara Buchanan of Orange Liberia said having the regulator closer to subscribers will make it easier for operators to learn what customers are complaining about and work with the LTA to fix it. She said the center should also create jobs, particularly for young people and women, and pointed to Orange’s digital schools in Grand Bassa and its programs teaching women digital literacy and technology skills.
On data depletion, Buchanan said Orange’s Protect Data initiative is designed to show customers how applications consume data and how to manage their usage, which she said would reduce misunderstandings between subscribers and the company.
The LTA says the decentralization program will eventually reach other parts of the country. For Grand Bassa, the test will be whether the Buchanan office resolves complaints as quickly as its opening promised.
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