Millions of MTN Uganda customers woke up to find they could not make calls, get online or use Mobile Money. The nationwide outage disrupted communication and business across the country, and the company has now apologised for it.
Speaking to journalists in Kampala, Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Mulinge blamed a power failure at one of MTN’s data centres. The failure, she said, briefly knocked out critical network systems. She apologised to customers, business partners, merchants and Mobile Money agents for the inconvenience, and said restoring service became the company’s top priority the moment the outage hit. Engineers worked around the clock to bring everything back.
Mulinge said customers whose voice or data bundles expired during the outage will be compensated. The announcement did not say how the payback will work. She added that MTN is talking to regulators about further customer support measures.
Data and balances
Customers worried about their money and records got a direct assurance. Mulinge said personal information and Mobile Money balances stayed secure throughout.
MTN has also started an internal review aimed at making the network more resilient and preventing a repeat. Investigations into the outage are continuing.
Lubega Phrase, managing director of MTN Mobile Money, pointed to spending as the company’s answer on reliability. MTN invested more than Shs549 billion in network expansion over the past year, he said. That lifted 4G population coverage to 88.6 per cent, and the 5G rollout continues across the country.
