Safaricom put to task on what happened to network

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore

NAIROBI, KENYA: Communications Authority of Kenya has ordered Safaricom to provide explanation on what happened to its network paralyzing operations in many services.

Safaricom subscribers could not by Monday morning access data, voice, sms, M-pesa and Enterprise services following an outage that crippled its network.

“We are waiting for Safaricom to give us an explanation about what happened because we were also in a blackout and we even had to send someone physically to their office to get in touch,” explained Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Director-General Francis Wangusi.

“We are seeking an explanation about what happened because every operator needs to adhere to a 99.99 per cent up-time, with redundancy provisions for network down-times,” said Mr Wangusi.

In a statement, Safaricom confirmed a technical hitch adding that the situation has since been addressed.

According to data from CA, Sh892 billion worth of mobile money was transferred through the firm’s mobile money network over the second quarter of the current financial year.

This translates to Sh309 million transferred every minute. The mobile service provider commands a 71 per cent market share of the mobile money network, with 27.7 million subscribers as at December last year.

The firm is also the only operator currently running an active 4G network after purchasing a licence early last month.

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