UCC has fined MTN Uganda 5 Billion Uganda Shillings(0.5% of it’s gross annual revenue) because of a non-compliance issues that MTN has repeatedly defied.
UCC made the announcement earlier today saying that MTN’s repeated defiance was in particular the directive to desist from the using short codes 157,169, 178, and 183, which prompted the Commission to invoke section 41 (1) (a) & 41 (2) (b) of the Uganda Communications Act.
Besides the MTN fine,The mandate of UCC,as derived from the Uganda Communications Act 2013,is to regulate communications in the country by; among others, Licensing, standardizing and monitoring communication services.
UCC says it conducted a survey and found that new SIM cards were activated without registration. The commission has asked all operators to desist from this.
The Commission has directed that all operators should desist from activating unregistered SIM cards with immediate effect. The Commission in consultation with the Minister of Security who is responsible for SIM registration will soon pronounce the appropriate sanctions against the offending operators as provided for under the relevant law.
Finally 58 Content Providers who were not able to stop sending unsolicited messages to customers, lost their codes. UCC strongly requires content providers to operationalise the 196 short code in order to help enable people opt out or enable a Do not disturb on all incoming unsolicited messages.
Read More: Official UCC Press statement.
