Uganda Telecom has come out this week in a series of media appearances to “clarify” the situation between it and MTN Uganda, weeks after the country's regulator, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) ruled that the telecom operator must pay Shs5 billion in overdue interconnection fees to the MTN unit in the country. According to a report in the Daily Monitor, the company has denied services have been slowed or disconnected between the two operators as an appeal is currently underway. UTL Chief Operating Officer Stanley Henning was quoted as saying that “Uganda Telecom and MTN Uganda had resolved in writing the payment terms on unpaid arrears in relation to local interconnection. “We sat and agreed on the payment of the arrears on local interconnection and as UTL, we are happy with the agreement and its terms,” he added. However, the court ruling stands and now the telecom operator says it is going to allow the court to do its job and would not comment further on the case. Analysts are hopeful that an agreement can be made in order to end the dispute between the two leading telecom operators, which would allow customers to receive the service that they require. “This case and battle has gone on for quite some time and it would be nice to have these companies focusing on proving adequate services instead of battling it out in the court,” said Zane Rellapan, a Kampala IT consultant and researcher. In recent weeks, Ugandans have complained of poor services between the two networks and are hopeful that an end to the battle will create better mobile connections. BM
