>
A commercial court in Uganda has slammed a $622,000 on telecommunications firm, MTN, further deepening the company’s crisis in Africa.
According to Ugandan newspaper, Daily Monitor, Henry Adonyo, the presiding judge of a commercial court in the East African country ordered MTN Uganda to pay Shs800m ($239,520) in general damages for loss of business and Shs1.5b ($449,100) to EzeeMoney as punitive damages, saying it would deter uncompetitive business tactics.
The fine was slammed on the company for “sabotaging EzeeMoney Limited”
In October, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fined MTN $5.2bn (N1.04trillion) for its refusal to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers.
Just as it is trying to negotiate and review the fine in Nigeria, the firm has also appealed the $622,000 imposed on it in Uganda.
It said in a statement: “MTN respects the decision of the court but fundamentally disagrees with it. MTN is aggrieved by the judgement primarily because EzeeMoney is not a licensed communications provider.
“MTN cannot be in breach of the law that prohibits anti-competitive conduct with regard to licensed communications service providers when EzeeMoney is not licensed and does not provide communications.
“It is wrong and inaccurate for EzeeMoney to state that MTN perceived EzeeMoney’s innovative offerings as a threat when all MTN did was to require EzeeMoney to engage MTN directly and to require EzeeMoney to use the prepaid services.
“MTN’s position is that these can never be hostile and underhanded actions or abuse and predatory anti-competitive behaviour as alleged.”