MTN Rwanda has been fined $8.38 million. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
Rwanda’s leading telecommunications firm MTN has been hit with an $8.5 million (Rwf7.03 billion) fine by the regulator.
The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) said Wednesday that MTN failed to comply with license obligations.
“MTN Rwanda Ltd provided services in contravention of Enforcement Notice and Directives issued by the regulator against hosting its IT services outside the country,” Anthony Kulamba, Rura’s spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.
“On 4th May 2017, the Regulatory Board of Rura conducted a hearing session in which MTN Rwanda Ltd was informed on the breach of its license obligations and given the opportunity to be heard, whereby MTN Rwanda Ltd admitted the above mentioned breach.
“In accordance with the applicable laws, the Regulatory Board of Rura decided to impose on MTN Rwanda Ltd administrative fine of Rwf7.03 billion.”
The South African telecom operator, confirming that it is facing the fine imposed by Rura, said it had been engaging with the regulator on the matter over the past four months.
“The fine relates to non-compliance with the directives issued by the regulator prohibiting the inclusion of MTN Rwanda in the MTN South and East Africa (SEA) IT hub based in Uganda,” the Johannesburg-based MTN Group said in a statement.
MTN, which also operates in 22 countries, has the largest market share in Rwanda with more than four million subscribers. Other operators include Tigo and Airtel. According to Rura, there are about nine million mobile phone subscribers in Rwanda.
Last year, MTN agreed to pay a $1.7 billion fine to the Nigerian government for failing to deactivate more than five million unregistered SIM cards. The fine, a third of the original penalty, was settled on length negotiations with the Nigerian government.
