It’s no secret that Uganda’s oldest Telecommunication firm is struggling to survive, currently having huge financial debts that threaten to collapse the company. According to the Red Pepper, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) the telecom regulator wrote to UTL on 30th March with intention to revoke its license over several issues. Top of the list includes, failure to improve its quality of service and refusal to commit to the payments of inter-connection fees. And UCC instead that if these issues are not explained thoroughly, it would revoke the company’s operating licenses within 60 days.
According to the UCC ED in an interview he said:
We have written to UTL for 3-4 years. There has been a consistent report from their own auditors that their debts outstrip their assets. They have not been paying interconnection fees which affect the quality of services and operation of the whole industry. So it is upon this guideline that we qualify to give then notice where they will make a presentation and if not satisfactory their license will be revoked.
So what went wrong?
According to the Daily Monitor, among other reasons listed above, UTL has consistently failed to comply with audited financial accounts for the two-year period and its failure to pay the set fees for the spectrum/resources assigned to UTL, resulting in a Shs13b debt to UCC.
The audit reports reveal that as of December 13, 2013 the company’s assets totaled Shs220b, which are shadowed by its liabilities that stood at a staggering Shs366b.
The company’s MD Mr Ali Amir, acknowledged receiving UCC’s letter and asserted with positivity that all that was written was true, he however assured Daily Monitor that;
“I am almost 100 per cent positive that UTL shall not be shut down and a compromise will have been reached before then.”
UTL’s Chaimran Mr Kaboyo Stephen insists that Uganda Telecom is here to stay despite the regulatory challenges. He further explained to Red Pepper that the shareholders Lap Green and the Government of Uganda are working tirelessly to reverse the company’s fortunes.
Source: Red Pepper & Daily Monitor
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