MTN Rwanda, the country’s leading telecoms company by subscriber numbers, is facing rising criticism over network disruptions in both its data and voice services countrywide.

Last week, MTN Rwanda pledged to sort out the network disruptions within “the shortest possible time.” Its clients, particularly Internet cafés, said they had experienced network disruptions for almost four weeks and continued to have limited access to the Internet.

Network disruptions have prompted the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Board (RURA) to commission an investigation into complaints lodged by the public.

“We have been following what has been happening and have asked them for a plan on how they will address the issues — they informed us that they are currently upgrading their network but this does not necessarily translate into disruptions,” Regis Gatarayiha, director general of RURA, told The EastAfrican last week.

Mr Gatarayiha added that they have tasked MTN Rwanda to provide a clear roadmap that will ensure they address the network disruptions within a stipulated period.

“It’s an obligation [for MTN to upgrade their network] but it should not take too long,” he said, adding that the network upgrade is necessary for the company to meet the demands of its increasing subscriber base.

The telecoms giant has approximately 2.9 million subscribers with network coverage of over 90 per cent, having pioneered the mobile market in Rwanda.

In 2009, the company spent over $100 million to upgrade its network and increase capacity, after government fined the company Rwf70 million ($0.11 million) for failure to meet contractual obligations including upgrading its network.

“The network has been very unstable and slow. We have been forced to offer our clients discounts in order to keep them. We hope MTN will compensate us when they sort out their issues,” an Internet café attendant at Union Trade Centre building told The EastAfrican. “But we don’t know when that will be. They initially promised that the problem would be solved within two weeks but it’s been over three weeks.”

According to Adam Nkusi, a shopkeeper in Kigali’s business centre, the situation is frustrating.

“Previously, downloading 10 megabytes took about three minutes, now it takes about 30 minutes; we are now considering switching to a different provider. Even the network on the phone goes off several times during the day,” he said.

MTN maintains that the network disruptions are due to upgrading of the 3G network, worsened by EASSy cable interference.

In a statement dated February 19, MTN Rwanda said its Internet subscribers could face some inconsistency with their speeds, due to EASSy cable disruptions detected between Djibouti and Port Sudan, which carries the majority of their international Internet traffic.

“Eighty per cent of our traffic is through the EASSy undersea cable, which is linked through Tanzania. Due to these cuts, especially on routes undersea and in remote areas, we are facing challenges in offering bandwidth to full capacity,” MTN said in the statement.

While Rwanda’s mobile penetration hit 42 per cent last year, Internet penetration remains low at 7 per cent. This year, RURA aims at increasing it to 12 per cent, and mobile penetration to 60 per cent.

Currently, Rwanda has two telecoms companies, MTN and Tigo Rwanda, owned by Luxemburg based Millicom International Cellular. Bharti Airtel is expected to officially launch on the market this year, with an investment pledge of over $100 million in the next three years.