The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) said on Thursday, July 31, said it summoned KT Rwanda Networks (KTRN), a 4G LTE infrastructure provider, to explain service disruptions that affected fibre optic connectivity in parts of Southern and Western Provinces.

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The regulator said the KTRN management to provide clarification about what caused the reported internet disruption in the districts of Muhanga, Karongi, Rutsiro, and Ngororero on the evening of Tuesday, July 30.

Although KTRN demonstrated that the services had been restored in the affected areas, RURA directed the company to permanently resolve any underlying issues that may cause poor service delivery in the future.

This comes two days after RURA announced it had summoned the management of MTN Rwanda to address recurring issues in its service delivery.

These issues MTN officials had to explain include disruptions in voice services, SMS, USSD (the service used to access mobile money wallets), and challenges related to interconnect traffic between service providers.

RURA said on Thursday that MTN Rwanda had been asked to pay an administrative fine for the disruptions.

The regulator also urged members of the public to avoid any activity that might damage telecommunications infrastructure, including underground fibre optic cables. Damaging or tampering with network infrastructure can result in widespread outages and disrupt critical services.

Established in 2013, KTRN is a subsidiary of Korea Telecom, which offers wholesale provision of a universal mobile broadband network built on 4G LTE technology.