A UK-registered firm, Vocalpad, has faced difficulties over the award of a five-year call-management contract. Vocalpad is due to set up a "unique gateway" through which all international telephone calls to and from Comoros will pass. However, this has prompted strikes at Comores Telecom (ComTel), the local telecommunications parastatal-apparently over sovereignty issues (although concern about potential competition is likely to be an equally strong motivation). This prompted the establishment of a committee-comprising the Department of Telecommunications, the National Agency for the Regulation of Information and Communications Technology (ANRTIC) and ComTel itself-to address concerns, and led to the publication of a "clarification", in which the government stated that telecoms sovereignty will be retained by the Comorian state, and that the director of the new entity, Vocalpad Comores, will be a Comorian citizen. The government added that the single gateway platform will allow the state to put an end to "illegal practices on the network", and that the substantial investment required to set up the gateway is beyond ComTel's financial resources. Vocalpad's contract would appear to be secure therefore. However, the dispute demonstrates the sensitivity of foreign investment in some areas, and also raises questions about the possible impact on the pledged privatisation of ComTel.