18 February 2020

Mauritania’s regulator Autorité de Régulation started 2020 in aggressive mode by fining operators Mauritel, Mattel and Chinguitel a total of US$3.83m.

The three companies are alleged to have breached their quality of service obligations. Leading operator Mauritel, a subsidiary of Maroc Telecom, was fined US$2.30m.

The company Mattel, a subsidiary of Tunisie Télécom, has been fined US$ 890,960 and Chinguitel, a subsidiary of the Sudanese Sudatel, will have to settle a sum of US$637,290. 

The regulator imposed the sanctions after it gave the various players the opportunity to explain the poor quality of services that persists on their respective networks and causes perpetual discontent among consumers. According to the regulator, the reasons given by Mauritel, Mattel and Chinguitel were found to be irrelevant.

This is the second year in a row that telecom operators have started under a financial penalty. Mauritel, Mattel and Chinguitel were fined US$1.61m at the start of 2019 for “service failure”.