MTN Weeps Over Fiber Cuts

MTN, THE leading mobile telecommunication network in the country, is deeply worried about the frequent truncation of its fibres by some unscrupulous persons.

Though the international telecommunication network company has repeatedly indicated that there is no copper wire in the fibre, some devious persons continue to cut it.

Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Services Executive of MTN told a forum of senior journalists and editors in Kumasi that for the first quarter of the year, the company had recorded 150 fibre cuts across the country.

She said the situation was worrying because the repair of each fibre cut cost the company GH¢8,000.

Apart from the drain on the company’s finances, the corporate services executive noted that the development caused a lot of embarrassment to the company.

This, she noted, was because clients of the company at the affected sites were unable to access the network properly, thereby causing huge public disaffection for the company.

Mrs. Lumor said the company was trying its best to bring the ugly development to a stop, and that the company would soon prosecute some of the offenders arrested in that regard.

She seized the opportunity to reiterate that her outfit’s fibres did not have copper wires in them therefore people should not resort to cutting them in search of copper wire.

The corporate services executive disclosed that though the market share of the company had reduced from 53 percent to 52 percent due to competition in the sector, the subscriber base of the company had risen from 9 million to 10.2 million.

Mrs. Lumor disclosed that mobile telecommunication companies operating in Ghana contributed an amount of 10 billion old cedis in taxes to the state, out which MTN contributed 5 billion.

Again, she revealed that the mobile telecommunication operators in the country employed 1.5 million people directly and indirectly, out of which MTN alone employed 500,000 people.

Touching on the achievements of the company, the corporate services executive was proud that her outfit had won the Brand Finance Global 500 Most Valuable Brand in Africa for the second time running.

Mrs. Lumor said the company was proud to have won the annual Y’ello Care Award for the second time in a row, coupled with the fact that the company had been adjudged the highest tax paying company in the country.

She mentioned power cuts, scams, permitting delays, fibre cuts, arbitrary operating fees and charges as some of the challenges facing the company, pointing out that effective measures had been put in place to address the scam matter.

Disclosing that the company had earmarked GH¢66, 900 for projects in the Ashanti region as part of its corporate responsibilities, the corporate services executive entreated clients to be wary of messages they received about winning prizes.

Mrs. Lumor explained that MTN did not send messages to people to inform them about prizes they had won, but instead called the winners with their specialized number – 0244300000, clarifying further that they did not task award winners to text anything to a number.

She promised that the company would strengthen the relationship it had built with the media, pointing out that her outfit would continue to employ effective means of serving its customers better.