Africell Telecom Becomes the Second Telecom Company in this Year to Exit Uganda After Smart Telecom Exited Last Month August-2021.

 Telecom Company Africell Uganda Limited has confirmed that it is exiting the Ugandan market in October.

In a communication to staff on Tuesday, 07 September 2021, Africell said it will be leaving the country on October 7.

“Africell UG will stop services on October 7, 2021. The decision is being made in the long term interest of the Ugandan telecom sector,” the company announced.

The company also revealed that their objectives in Uganda have not been achieved over their last seven years of operations in the country, and that it is therefore prudent that they leave.

“We believe that the opportunity to achieve this impact is increasingly limited. We have therefore taken the difficult decision to permanently end Africell UG’s operations in Uganda.”

Africell launched its commercial operations in Uganda in November 2014 after acquiring shares of Orange Uganda earlier in the year for $12 million and inherited an estimated 1,000,000 subscribers at the time of its purchase.

However, Africell has been struggling having accumulated over UGX1.5 trillion in losses and UGX258.3bn in debts.

Some of the losses were inherited from their predecessors, Orange Uganda whose operations they took over in 2014.

Africell’s  departure follows the exit of Smart Telecom which closed operations in Uganda at the end of last month.