Smile, the pioneering provider of 4G LTE services in Uganda and East Africa, has experienced a service outage since January 31, 2022. For this, Smile wishes to sincerely apologize to its valued customers and the general public. It acknowledges that this update should have been provided earlier; however, it deemed it imperative to first await the conclusion of certain legal processes before sharing these details.
The outage was a result of American Towers Corporation (ATC) disconnecting the Smile network illegally, contrary to ATC’s license obligations, industry best practices and, most importantly, the well-being of the Ugandan people.
Prior to this occurrence, Smile had been involved in commercial disputes with ATC since 2018 on matters related to discriminatory pricing practices as well as unfair and illegal power billing practices where, in Smile’s case, ATC was collecting around fifty percent more than the tariffs set by the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Uganda. These disputes were duly referred to arbitration in accordance with the underlying contracts.
The arbitration process, initially scheduled by both parties and the arbitrator to conclude in June 2021, extended into 2022. While the resulting award was in ATC’s favor, immediately and without any notice after the issuance of the arbitral award, on January 31, 2022, ATC proceeded to disconnect Smile's sites. This led to the complete shutdown of Smile's 4G LTE services by February 1, 2022.
Following the disconnection, Smile pursued legal action by applying to the High Court to set aside the arbitral award. The High Court ruling, handed down on April 11, 2023, granted Smile's application and set aside the award, citing delays in the issuing of the award and concerns about the arbitrator’s partiality. To date, ATC has not appealed the ruling.
While the pre- and post-arbitral award legal processes were running their course, Smile attempted settlement negotiations with ATC but faced unyielding inflexibility from the latter. Consequently, Smile terminated all contracts with ATC and requested the return of its equipment to resume its services with an alternative tower partner. However, ATC has been adamant, effectively continuing to illegally and with impunity hold Smile hostage.
ATC's actions have caused significant damage to Smile's investment in Uganda, resulting in approximately USD 120,000,000 in losses. This not only impacts Smile's operations and denies consumers a credible service but also affects jobs and livelihoods dependent on Smile's presence in the market. It is worth noting that such actions are unprecedented in the African and International Telecommunications industries. Smile continues to pursue legal action against ATC, challenging their service shutdown and refusal to return equipment. The company is determined to seek justice and restitution and expresses sincere gratitude to loyal customers and the public for their unwavering support. Further updates will be provided as Smile remains hopeful that services will be restored once this matter is resolved.
