“We sincerely apologize.” That was how MTN Uganda chief executive Sylvia Mulinge opened her message to customers after a day when calls, internet and Mobile Money stopped working across the country.
The company will compensate every customer whose voice or data balance expired because they could not use it during the outage. Mulinge said leadership took that decision the day before her July 7 statement. “We will compensate all customers whose balances on their voice and data expired because they were not able to use it during the outage,” she said.
MTN has not said how the payback will work or how many customers are owed. It told customers that compensation will follow its customer care processes once services are fully restored. It is also talking to regulators about further support measures, Mulinge said.
A data centre loses power
The trouble began around midday and spread from about 1 p.m. Customers could not make or receive calls, get online or finish Mobile Money transactions. Many parts of Uganda were hit before service came back gradually.
In its first statement, MTN described “a major power outage at one of our data centres” that disrupted voice, data and MoMo services for a segment of its customers.
Mulinge, speaking to journalists in Kampala, gave the same cause and ruled out an attack. “It was not a cybersecurity incident,” she said. Customer data stayed secure, Mobile Money balances were safe, and all services had been restored. She added that engineers worked around the clock.
She apologised to customers, business partners, merchants and Mobile Money agents alike.
Review and investment
MTN has opened an internal review aimed at making the network more resilient, Mulinge said, and the investigation into the outage continues.
Lubega Phrase, managing director of MTN Mobile Money, pointed to spending on the network. The company put more than Shs549 billion into expansion over the past year, he said, lifting 4G population coverage to 88.6 percent while the 5G rollout continues.
Sources
- MTN Apologizes After Nationwide Network Outage: Promises Compensation for Affected Customers. Power Failure Blamed for Countrywide Service Disruption.
- Customers To Be Refunded After Data Bundles Expired During Outage
