Safaricom dismisses CA's report on quality of service
A customer service operator at Safaricom's call centre. The mobile phone operator has dismissed the quality of service report by the Communications Authority of Kenya, which rated all four mobile operators in Kenya as non-compliant. PHOTO | MICHAEL MUTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Safaricom Director Corporate Affairs Stephen Chege said the regulator’s report greatly contradicts audits by an independent company.
- The regulator vetted the operators on eight parameters including; success rate, call drop rate, call set up time, signal strength and speech quality.
- CA also noted a decline in performance in call set up success rate, call completion rate and call block rate for all operators.
- The performance was rated best in Nairobi region and worst in Central region.
Safaricom has dismissed the Quality of Service report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which rated all four mobile operators in Kenya as non-compliant.
The 2013/2014 report states that Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya achieved an overall rating of 62.5 per cent, while the outdated Essar Telecom achieved 50 per cent, below the set target for quality of service.
Safaricom's Director of Corporate Affairs Stephen Chege said the regulator’s report greatly contradicts audits by an independent company.
The third-party consultant P3, contracted to conduct independent tests on the network, noted significant improvements over the last financial year.
“It is important to note that the CA report covers the period between July 2013 and June 2014, which captures a period before Safaricom undertook an exercise to vastly improve network delivery in both rural and urban areas,” said Mr Chege.
The regulator vetted the operators on eight parameters, including success rate, call drop rate, call set-up time, signal strength and speech quality.
INVESTED UP TO SH30 BILLION
Safaricom said in a statement on Tuesday that it had, since its inception, invested between Sh20-30 billion in its network annually and was sure that future subsequent tests by the CA will demonstrate the impact of the investment.
The CA, however, said that all operators complied with targets on handover, success rate, call drop rate, call-set up time and signal strength.
Performance on the speech quality parameter improved for three operators except Essar, which is now owned by Airtel.
The regulator also noted a decline in performance in call set up success rate, call completion rate and call block rate for all operators.
The performance was rated best in the Nairobi region and worst in the central region.
The western, Nyanza and Coast regions recorded above-average performance while average performance was recorded in the northeast, eastern and Rift Valley regions.
Last year, operators called for a review of the QoS quotas, saying the 2014 results were against the investment efforts made by them and did not reflect the true image of their performance.
