Rwanda slams $8.5m fine on MTN for ‘regulatory breach’
Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) has fined MTN Rwanda, a division of the South African telecommunications company, $8.5 million for hosting its IT services outside the country.
In a statement on its website, the telecommunications regulator said MTN breached its license by running its IT services in Uganda.
“MTN Rwanda provided services in contravention of enforcement notice and directives issued by the regulator against hosting its IT services outside the country,” the statement read.
“By doing so, MTN Rwanda breached its license obligation requiring it to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and any other regulatory instruments issued by the competent authority.
“On May 4, 2017, the regulatory board of RURA conducted a hearing session in which MTN Rwanda was informed on the breach of its license obligations and given the opportunity to be heard, whereby MTN Rwanda admitted the above-mentioned breach.
“In accordance with the applicable laws, the regulatory board of RURA decided to impose on MTN Rwanda administrative fine of seven billion thirty million Rwanda Francs (7,030,000,000).”
In a statement, MTN Group said it had received a notification of the fine.
“MTN has been engaging with the regulator on this matter over the past four months. MTN Rwanda is currently studying the official notification and will continue to engage with the regulator on this matter.”
In October 2015, the Nigeria Communications Commission announced a fine of N1.4 trillion for failure to disconnect unregistered sim cards.
The fine was later slashed to N330 billion after negotiations. The company has recorded losses since it began payment of the fine and has blamed the fine for its losses.
too many troubles for number one African brand. how do we rally this brand when its managers are these deceitful. pls for God sake Rob shutter and his employers should strive to straighten things now that they have the resources. stop putting MTN in the news for the wrong reason, it is the pride of Africa
I take note of the breach, however, I will submit that this fine is a regress considering the industry’s journey towards the cloud. In the cloud model, IT systems and services can be hosted anywhere in the world, including being hosted in the country of your worst enemy.
NCC should contact the Rwandans to hold their fine toll MTN pays up the balance they owe us in Nigeria