Kampala. MTN will be punished if it is found guilty
of breaching operational guidelines, Uganda Communications Commission
(UCC), has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholder meeting
for East African Communications Organisation on Monday, Mr Godfrey
Mutabazi, the UCC executive director, said they, together with security
agencies, are investigating to ascertain whether MTN breached
operational guidelines.
“There will be punitive action if there is
any breach. There are many measures [to punish breach] within the law,”
he said without offering more details.
Government, has
without giving details, deported four MTN senior managers including
chief executive officer Wim Vanhelleputte for alleged espionage.
Efforts to get a comment from MTN about the ongoing investigations were futile.
Under
the UCC Act 2013, the commission is mandated to suspend or revoke a
licence of an operator if they are found guilty of serious and repeated
breach of set conditions.
The UCC Act also mandates the
commission to suspend or revoke the licence of a telecom that is engaged
in fraud, intentional misinterpretation or supporting treasonable
activities under the Penal Code Act.
Although details of their
deportation are still scanty, Ms Elsa Mussolini, the former MTN mobile
money manager, said she had been deported for allegedly inciting
violence and funding politicians such as Kyandondo East MP Robert
Kyagulanyi to protest against social media and mobile money tax.
Mr
Mutabazi said the deportations had for now had no impact on the telecom
sector, given that MTN continues to hold its licence which was recently
renewed for three months.
MTN’s 20-year licence expired in October last year and has since been twice partially renewed.
Mr
Vincent Bagiire, the ICT Ministry permanent secretary, said they would
wait for the investigations to conclude to conduct any policy reform.
“We
expect [some] decision to be determined through this investigation and
any recommendations presented will be followed religiously,” he said.
