Telkom Kenya will compensate its customers by not billing them after its network suffered a 15-hour outage on Wednesday, its boss said on Thursday.
The telco revealed that customers in some parts of the country were unable to access Mobile Voice and Data services Wednesday.
“I apologise for any inconvenience this service outage has caused our customers and assure them that we are working to restore services back to all areas as soon as possible,” Mugo Kibati, the CEO said in a statement.
The compensation will be guided by its internal processes, to ensure that customer queries are amicably resolved individually.
“To this end, Telkom will not bill its Mobile customers for the period starting 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 19, 2022, through to 6:00 pm, Thursday, January 20, 2022,” Kibati said.
Telkom has over 4 million customers on its network commanding a 4.6 per cent market share in mobile data according to data by the Communication Authority of Kenya in the quarter ended June 2021, while Safaricom has 68 per cent with Airtel at 26.6 per cent.
The telecommunication’s company on Wednesday said the carrier experienced a service interruption that had affected its GSM Prepaid Services and Global Data.
This meant that its customers could not make phone calls, send an SMS, or even browse the internet.
Dear Customer, we are currently experiencing a service interruption on our GSM Prepaid Services, and Global data.
We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.— Telkom Kenya (@TelkomKenya) January 19, 2022
The outage was also confirmed by the Internet observatory firm, NetBlocks.
“The interruption affects its GSM and global data with real-time network data showing that connectivity is at 9 per cent of ordinary levels.”
ℹ️ Confirmed: #Kenya's Telkom Kenya is experiencing a nation-scale outage with the provider reporting a service interruption to its GSM and global data; real-time network data show provider's connectivity at 9% of ordinary levels; incident ongoing 📉 pic.twitter.com/bpTQk4KvzX
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 19, 2022
ℹ️ Update: Service has returned to #Kenya‘s Telkom Kenya (AS12455) following a nation-scale internet and telecoms outage ?
? Background: https://t.co/Z49HNnAgfE pic.twitter.com/r2EG13f70B
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 19, 2022
From its website, the telco says it has 4,152 km of its own terrestrial fibre cabling, serving as a key conduit for broadband connectivity, inland. In addition, owns a 22.5% stake in TEAMS, a 5,000km undersea fibre optic cable through Fujairah, UAE, and a 10% stake in LION2, another 2,700km undersea fibre optic cable through Mauritius.
It also owns a stake in the East African Submarine System Cable (EASSy) and manages the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI), on behalf of the Ministry of ICT, an inland fibre optic cable network running through Kenyan counties. Telkom is also the landing partner for the LION2, EASSy, DARE 1 and lately, the PEACE Cables.
This Story was Updated Thursday at 9:06 PM.
