By Kehinde Okeowo
MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Olutokun Toriola, has once again apologized for the network outage experienced by customers on October 9, 2021.
Customers of the network MTN had experienced hours of network disruption, which affected calls and connections to the internet.
Toriola In a video message on Sunday, apologised to MTN network users saying the network failure occurred due to a system error.
He also said his organisation, knowing how important their services are to customers’ businesses and other social engagements, will ensure this does not happen again.
Toriola further assured customers that the error that shifted all 4G customers to 3G, therefore overloading the band and causing outages will never be allowed to occur again.
“Last Saturday, we had an outage that left our customers without a connection for several hours. On behalf of the entire MTN team, I want to start with a heartfelt apology. We are truly sorry for the disruption this caused for so many in our MTN family,” He said.
He added: “We know that millions of people rely on us to stay connected to their loved ones, to manage their businesses, to coordinate their lives. We take that responsibility and privilege very seriously. That’s why we are putting new measures in place to make sure we never experience anything like last Saturday again.
“Our technical teams have traced the cause of the problem to an error that shifted all our 4G customers onto the 3G band. This overloaded the 3G band, causing a domino effect that impacted the whole network. Our engineers were able to resolve the problem.
“I know that recently other technology companies have suffered outages. I want to reassure you that last Saturday’s event is in no way connected to those. This wasn’t sabotaged, it was a regrettable error.”
He went further to say MTN had refunded customers airtime and data used yesterday in addition to extending the validity of all time-bound plans by 24 hours.
He also hoped the gestures will go a long way to assure users that MTN cares and values them.
“While we work to strengthen our network to prevent further disruptions of any kind, we wanted to find a way to say sorry. Something more than extending the validity of all time-bound plans by 24 hours, which we did as soon as service was restored,
“So, while we can’t give you back the time you lost last Saturday, we can give you back what you spent yesterday. Every customer on the MTN network has received a refund for the data and airtime that they used between 12 noon and 7 pm yesterday.
“We hope it shows how much we value our customers. You truly are our most important focus.
“We all have challenges, each and everyone, young or old, personally or professionally. What matters is how we respond. With you by our side, we will continue to improve and grow.” He concluded.