Bharti Airtel plans to terminate all calls made and received from UTL to its Uganda unit, owing to failure of repayment of debts. Uganda Telecom owes Airtel a sum of approximately $3.5 million in outstanding fees and court fines. Sources claim Mr Ruhakana Rugunda, the minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), summoned Airtel’s managing director Mr V.G Somasekhar, in an attempt to stop Airtel from terminating these calls.
Airtel had already filed three court cases against UTL in December last year. Reports suggest that Mr Joseph Kanyamunyu, Airtel’s spokesman said the Indian-owned firm will not lift the termination until UTL clears the debt. In the event that communication is suspended between Airtel and UTL, a subscriber base of at least 4.5 million users will be affected on both networks.