MTN Uganda May Block Calls to UTL calls Over Unpaid Bill

MTN Group Ltd.’s Ugandan unit said it may block calls to the network operated by Libyan-owned Uganda Telecom Ltd. over an unpaid bill.

MTN Uganda Ltd., the East African nation’s biggest phone company, is owed 20 billion shillings ($8.39 million) by the rival company, according to a company statement published in the Kampala-based New Vision newspaper today. Calls between the two networks will be severed on March 14 unless the debt, which accumulated over a three-year period, is repaid, it said.

The continued interconnection with Uganda Telecom “is now a business risk as the debt continues to grow unabated,” MTN Uganda said.

Fatuma Nalubowa, a spokeswoman for Uganda Telecom, said the company is dealing with the matter.

“It was a small disagreement but it will be sorted out,” she said by phone today from Kampala.

The Libyan Arab Portfolio, or LAP Green Network, owns 51 percent interest of Uganda Telecom, while the remaining shares are held by the Ugandan government.

MTN Group is Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator. The Ugandan unit says it accounts for about 50 percent of the country’s more than 12 million phone subscribers.

--Editors: Paul Richardson, Karl Maier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.