MTN Rwanda has claimed that the reason behind upgrading its network, which has been causing disruptions, is to compete with it's business rivals. MTN subscribers have been experiencing network disruptions recently because of their upgrade to 3G network coverage to over 30 percent. Khaled Mikkawi, managing director of MTN Rwanda said on Tuesday that they still have a fast growing number of customers. “We cannot be compared to Airtel because of our subscription base; maybe that can happen in two years time,” Khaled told reporters at MTN head offices in Nyarutarama, Kigali. “When you roll out new 3G sites, you have to carry out tests and an optimization exercise and the challenge is keeping clients and subscribers online while carrying out optimization,” Khaled Mikkawi briefly explained. Without mentioning how much was invested in the 3G network upgrade, Khaled Mikkawi promised that the disruption problems will be addressed and fixed soon. In response to the disruptions, MTN re-routed all their traffic and have sourced for additional capacity from various service providers, hence doubling current bandwidth. MTN Rwanda has over 2.9 million subscribers and claim to have network coverage to over 98 percent of the population. In 2009 alone, MTN invested $120 million in technological upgrades, reducing their assets in 2010 to about $60 million; in 2011, it was $35 million, while this year it's expected to be less. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/AuaC3 Tags: 3G, License, MTN, Rwanda Section: East Africa, Tech
