Telecoms regulator, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), has issued an enforcement notice to telecom operator, Rwandatel, after the company allegedly failed to comply with its license requirements.

The notice to Rwandatel is the second served to a big investor in a period of two weeks. The Government recently announced that it was reviewing the $325 million methane gas contract with ContourGlobal Kivuwatt Ltd, after the company failed to implement the project on time.

RURA’s warning follows a series of discussions between the regulator and Rwandatel, where the operator was reminded about its license requirements, including coverage and rollout obligations as well as the quality of services and investment plan.

The review of the methane gas contract is a result of ContourGlobal’s failure to deliver/extract electricity from Lake Kivu as stipulated in the agreement. These cases are among many where investors make commitments that they don’t keep.

Some of these contracts, especially in strategic sectors like telecommunication and energy are awarded through a competitive bidding process and the reason a company is selected is because it has submitted a better and detailed plan of what they intend to do. It is, therefore, important for the companies that win such huge contracts to live up to their commitments.

Since the government has honored its part of the agreement by creating a business friendly environment through sound regulation, investors, too, need to have the integrity to comply with their license obligations in the interest of their customers and their overall image. And if they fail, other companies should be approached to take over.

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