Africell has blamed the actions of some rogue customers as the reason why it discontinued the Unlimited data bundle service. 

In a press release the telecom company said 800 rogue customers were consuming “as much as 40,000 data subscribers.” It added that some of these alleged fraudster “were opening illegal businesses and connecting entire neighborhoods for a premium, at the expense of our honest and loyal customers.”

Below we reproduce the full press release: 

“Dear Valued Customers,

Africell would like to clarify to our esteemed subscribers the recent change from “Unlimited Bundles” to “Mega Bundles”.

“In our relentless quest to always provide our customers with the best possible services at the most affordable prices, Africell launched the “Unlimited” Data Bundle in April 2019.  This new bundle became the cheapest and most efficient way to connect homes, businesses, individuals and communities.

“Unfortunately, we have recently detected around 800 abusers who were consuming as much as 40,000 data subscribers. We even came across cases where extreme users were opening illegal businesses and connecting entire neighbourhood for a premium, at the expense of our honest and loyal customers. 

“Regrettably, we have received numerous complaints from deserving customers who are unable to enjoy our data service to its full capacity because of those 800 abusers.

“During our thorough investigation into the matter, we also found cases whereby single numbers were buying multiple subscriptions of the Unlimited Bundles for different devices in a single month.  Most of these users bought over 10 subscriptions while others up to 30 subscriptions. We even found a case where a certain individual bought 52 subscriptions of the Unlimited Bundle in a single month for multiple devices. This is clearly outside the realms of fair usage.

“Consequently, this degraded the network at the expense of the fair users.

In our continuous effort to ensure that all customers are satisfied, Africell will be refunding all affected subscribers with the credit used to buy the Unlimited Bundle. These customers can also continue to enjoy for Free the current plan that they are subscribed to.

“On behalf of all of us at Africell Gambia, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience. Please know that our customers are always our number one priority, and that we will continue to work hard with honesty and integrity in order to always provide quality services to our Africell Family.

Yours Sincerely,

Management and Staff of Africell”