Uganda’s Mobile Services Operators Face Penalty Over Unsolicited SMSes

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) plans to will punish operators for sending out unsolicited messages and caller ring-back tunes.

UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutaabazi has revealed that the regulator has warned all operators in the country to desist from spamming subscribers with unsolicited messages.

The directive is targeted at curbing the malpractices common among the Premium SMS Services Providers (PRSPs). Ugandans have been complaining of being subscribed to services they do not ask for while huge amounts are amounts are being deducted from subscribers’ accounts for the messages received.

According to a UCC Consumer Complaint report released last week, Warid Telecom, Airtel Uganda Ltd and MTN posted poor ratings. In the report, basing on a scale of 30 respondents who were interviewed, 100 per cent complained about the increased caller ring-back tunes while 90 per cent protested the increased unsolicited SMS.

IMG