Telecommunications operators in Uganda could face stiff penalties

Uganda’s Communications Commission (UCC) announced that the country’s telecommunications operators will know within two weeks if they will be issued with penalties for poor service delivery. This comes just a week after Nigeria’s NCC imposed hefty fines on mobile phone operators for similar charges.


“We started doing benchmarking and we are compiling the results and within the next two to three weeks, we shall release the results and once we approve the sanctions, then the fines will be imposed,” said Godfrey Mutabazi, the Executive Director of UCC last week.

The fines have come about after the UCC published a report last year indicating that all of the six network operators in the country failed to deliver the quality of service required by the UCC, and were not meeting the minimum operating standards.

“Following the survey, UCC announced it would begin penalizing telecoms for poor services and unsolicited SMSs that subscribers receive and for money lost in calls that have not gone through. Mutabazi said the regulator was overwhelmed by the number of complaints from the public, and stringent measures would be put in place to ensure quality services,” wrote Uganda’s EA Business.

Charlie Fripp
Itnewsafrica
22-May-2012