NCMP-28 FEBRUARY-MTN, one of the telecom providers in South Sudan is under fire from dissatisfied customers who accuse the provider of exorbitant charges and poor calling and internet services. Tens of thousands of customers have signed up via social media and made it clear that they will boycott MTN by switching off their phones at 5pm today, February 28.
In March 2018, authorities shut down Vivacell, a pioneer service provider in the country, over unpaid license fees.
MTN faces a real threat of being pushed out of the market should an alternative telco appears.
With just a week’s notice, the authorities shut down the mobile operator, demanding $66 million in license fees and locking out 900,000 subscribers.
Vivacell, owned by Lebanon’s Fattoush Investment Group, was one of three mobile phone operators in South Sudan – competing with MTN and Kuwait’s Zain.
Since the suspension of Vivacell, MTN took advantage of the market but instead of focusing on improving its call and internet services so that it could acquire and retain more subscribers, it created a service that is neither dependable nor affordable for the majority of its customers.
MTN faces the real threat of being pushed out of the market should an alternative telco appear.
