Kenya's mobile firm's network hitch disrupts services

Kenya's mobile phone operator, Safaricom experienced network outage on Monday disrupting communication services for millions of subscribers in the East African nation.

Safaricom, which has over 27 million subscribers, said in a statement that the system outage affected a number of core services in its network including voice, data, SMS, mobile transfer service, M-Pesa and enterprise services.

"We have identified the root cause of the outage and are working to resolve this in the shortest time possible. In the meantime, voice, data, SMS, M-Pesa and enterprise services will be available intermittently until the issue is fully resolved," Safaricom said.

"We will continue to update customers on the progress to restore services. We apologize for any inconvenience caused," it added.

Thousands of Kenyans had complained about the service outage especially at a time when the country is preparing to hold its general elections on Aug. 8.

However, the mobile phone firm in response said that the shutdown was unscheduled and that it was working to resolve it.

Millions of subscribers were caught unawares by the unusual outage that affected operations, including businesses that significantly rely on the internet. The service provider attributed the network outage to a technical hitch. Endit