The General Directorate of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts (ARCEP) has initiated a sanction procedure against Moov Africa Togo for its failure to maintain the availability of its authorized Mobile Money service, Flooz. Additionally, the operator did not adequately notify consumers of the disruptions, as required by regulatory provisions.
According to Article 27.1 of Moov Africa Togo’s specifications, the operator is obligated to ensure the continuous and uninterrupted availability of authorized services, as well as the ongoing adaptation of the means it employs. Moreover, Article 37.4 mandates that in the event of a disruption or interruption in service provision, the operator must promptly inform its customers about the nature of the problem and provide an estimated timeframe for service restoration.
Furthermore, Decision No. 068/ARCEP/DG/21, dated March 11, 2021, outlines the incident notification protocol to ARCEP. As per this decision, operators are required to inform users through automated messages and media communications when the duration of an incident impacting its services exceeds two (02) hours.
During the period of October 19 to 24, 2023, Moov Africa Togo’s Mobile Money service experienced complete unavailability across the entire national territory. In addition to the service disruption, the operator failed to fulfill its obligation to send automated incident notification messages to subscribers, as stipulated by regulatory guidelines.
ARCEP’s decision to open a sanction procedure underscores the importance of upholding service availability and ensuring timely communication with consumers in the event of disruptions. The regulatory authority remains committed to enforcing these standards to safeguard the interests of consumers and maintain the integrity of telecommunication services in Togo.
Today, it is undeniable that mobile financial services are of crucial and vital importance in the daily lives of Togolese people. This is why their unavailability for such a long period, aggravated by the lack of information on the time taken to restore the service, is likely to create serious harm to the population.
ARCEP would like to once again remind all operators of the need to respect their obligations relating to the permanent, continuous and regular availability of all their services in general and Mobile Money services in particular, throughout the national territory.
Statement from ARCEP
