Uganda’s telecommunications regulator announced that it will introduce a new law that will see more regulation of advertising on short text messaging services and mobile money business in the East African country.
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) said that the new law will “restore sanity” and help “improve the quality of services that mobile telephone companies have added to their platforms.”
The statement from the UCC continued to say that the new law will help these services from continuing to be “a safe haven for fraud to fleece the unsuspecting public.”
According to the UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutabazi “the most common problems have been the loss of mobile money, dropped telephone calls, free airtime promotions, SMS promotions where the public is asked to vote through certain codes, unsolicited messaging services where the public loses money by replying by text message to certain numbers, as well as unexplained airtime deductions.”
Mutabazi singled out Orange Telecom as the “only mobile operator which has tried to stick to prudent business by protecting its customers.”
He added that the “UCC and the Bank of Uganda are in advanced stages of coming up with a law on mobile commerce as well as make amendments to the 1997 Uganda Mobile Communications Act because it has been found to be lacking in the prosecution of fraudsters.”
“Although the prices of Internet service have considerably dropped in the last two years, the quality has been compromised by unprofessional activities by the telephone operators,” he continued.
Credit: ITNewsAfrica
