The Telecommunications Act 2006 established the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) to provide for the licensing and regulation of telecommunications operators and for the promotion of universal access to basic telecommunications services, fair competition for the benefit of investors in, and users of telecommunications networks and services, and to improve the national, regional and global integration of Sierra Leone in telecommunications.

The Act came into effect on the 3rd August 2006. While its Chairman/Commissioner took office in October 2006, the other six members of the Commission commenced sittings in January of 2007. Senior Management staffs of the Commission were appointed in March and took office in April 2007. The Commission is therefore the arm of government that is responsible for licensing and regulating the operations of all telecommunications service providers in Sierra Leone.

The territory of Sierra Leone covers an area of approximately 30,000 square kilometers, with a population of 4.9 million people and an average annual GDP growth rate of 13.2%. With the restoration of democratic rule in 1996, the government of Sierra Leone adopted a new policy initiative to liberalise the telecommunications industry.

The first GSM licence was issued during the four year military interregnum, to Mobitel SL) Limited in March 1994 to operate a radio based telephony network and paging system throughout the country. A joint venture arrangement in this regard was entered into with the then Sierra Leone National Telecommunications Company Limited (SLNTC).