On 13th January at 7 PM, the government of Uganda through the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) ordered all internet service providers in Uganda to shut down all internet gateways and associated access points. This directive affected Uganda’s biggest telecom giant MTN– 4 days later the internet was switched back on after the elections.
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In a statement received by Techjaja before the switch off, MTN Uganda said that;
“MTN Uganda informs its esteemed customers and other stakeholders that National Telecommunication Operators in the country, have received a directive from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to immediately suspend access and use, direct or otherwise of all social media platforms and online messaging applications over the network until further notice.“
The effect of this is internet showdown has caused many MTN subscribers have come out to complain in regards to the lost data bundles due to the expiration during this period.
According to MTN, work is in progress to compensate all those who were affected. We are not certain what kind of compensation that MTN will give to its subscribers. In their tweet responses to clients, the telecom says “Refunding clients whose unused data expired between 13/01/2021 – 18/01/2021, is work in progress. We request for your patience and apologize for the inconveniences caused“. We expect other telecom companies to follow suit.
