RURA fined MTN Rwanda on July 28, 2025, after the operator experienced a major system malfunction that disrupted several of its services, including voice calls, mobile money transactions, and other services accessed via USSD codes.
On the same day, MTN Rwanda announced through its official social media platforms that the connectivity issues affecting its customers had been resolved.
Article 26 of the Law governing Information and Communication Technology provides that any licensee who fails to comply with an enforcement decision issued by the regulator is subject to administrative penalties, including 'a fine ranging from Frw 500,000 to Frw 15 million for each day of non-compliance, starting from the date of notification of the reinforced decision.'
Speaking to IGIHE, RURA's Head of ICT Regulation department, explained that MTN Rwanda paid fines equivalent to two days, as the company had quickly addressed the problem.
'As of today, the issue has been resolved. After we fined them, they invested significant effort, found a solution, and informed us that the problem had been fixed,' Gahungu said.
He emphasized that service providers have a duty to ensure reliable service delivery at all times.
'We are still monitoring the situation because what happened was a widespread outage. To prevent recurrence, we, as regulators, continue to monitor compliance. However, it is also the operators' responsibility to regularly assess their systems and adopt preventive measures.
'They must align their capacity with the size of their customer base by hiring adequate staff, acquiring modern equipment, and making other necessary investments,' he added.
Gahungu noted that, based on the corrective actions taken, there is confidence that such disruptions will not happen again.
The incident was largely attributed to network congestion, as the number of users accessing MTN's platform exceeded its system capacity, resulting in instability and degraded service quality.
MTN Rwanda's Chief Executive Officer, Ali Monzer, who attended a consultative meeting organized by RURA with lecturers, university leaders, and students on the draft ICT law, reaffirmed the company's commitment to strengthening its infrastructure and delivering high-quality services.
IGIHE
