MTN Rwanda faced a backlash on Monday following as Mobile Money services remained down.
Rwandans have taken to social media to lament about the downtime in MTN Rwanda Mobile Money services on Monday after the telco announced that technicians were working around the clock to restore the service which was switched off in the wee hours of Monday morning for routine maintenance.
Via an SMS sent out to clients on Sunday, September 10, MTN Rwanda had indicated that its mobile money service would be off from 1am to 5am, Monday morning but by 2pm CAT, the which allows to transact business and pay bills was yet to be fully restored, to the chagrin of its over 4.3 million users of its nearly 7 million subscribers who rely on the service.
“Dear customers, please be informed that you may experience intermittent delays in accessing MoMo services. We regret the inconvenience this may cause. Our teams are working hard to fully restore the service. Thank you,” the telecom company said in a short tweet.
Life came to a standstill as millions of people countrywide could not complete payments for services, including transport and other bills, taking to social media to lament about their challenges while some called on Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) to take actions.
A man carries out a mobile money transaction via an agent.
Many attested to being inconvenienced throughout the course of the day as they could not move from one place to another or pay for consumables.
“I have not been able to do anything since this morning. All the money I had is on MoMo. I cannot withdraw or transfer. I was lucky to have Rwf1,000 to pay for the moto taxi but beyond that I haven’t been able to do what brought me to town,” Aimable Kwizera, a businessman, told KT Press in the central business district.
Shops and other businesses in town complained about lack of customers since morning, with many not being able to carry out any transaction using their mobile phones.
“Today many people keep money on their phones since the Covid-19 pandemic. Nobody was prepared for this downtime. We are counting losses,” Hafsa Umumararungu, a businesswoman dealing in clothes at CHIC Mall in town said.
