East African mobile firms’ quality poor: experts

Technology experts have said that deteriorating quality of services offered by telecoms operators is short-changing consumers.

Most firms focus on increasing subscriber numbers, but do not upgrade their networks, leading to a high percentage of dropped calls, low call completion rates and poor quality of service.

A forum on Internet governance bringing together ICT players in the East African region, heard on Wednesday that as the telecommunication industry expands, more users are exposed to fraud and poor services.

Call blocks

“The scenario which includes poor speech quality, persistent call blocks, poor signal strength and quality, is on the rise as the uptake for telecommunications services increases,” Mr James Lunghabo, the acting chairman of Uganda ICT Consumers Protection Association told participants.

The two parameters for testing the quality of services for mobile phone firms — the call completion rate and call drop rate — are said to be very high in Kenya.

Call completion rate is an automatically generated statistical value that refers to the percentage of calls that are answered. Call drop rate refers to silence gaps within a call.

“It is important to set standards that every provider agrees to at the time of receiving an operating licence, and carriers must keep network connection completion rates and call completion rates at high levels,” said Mr Jean-Mari Vianney Kavumbagu, communications manager Great Lakes Human Rights League.

Ms Aimee Usanase of Rwanda Development Gateway said there is need to harmonise legal processes and framework at the regional level to protect consumers and create a good business environment.

The Communications Commission of Kenya envisaged a better situation when it imported equipment from Israel to monitor the call drop rates, call completion rates and other standards stipulated in the agreement. But none of that is enforced.

Imposed fines

Rwanda is, however, ahead of the game. Last year, it imposed fines on continental operator MTN for poor-quality services. In Uganda, the firm was forced to reimburse clients for unsatisfactory services. Such standards do not exist in Kenya.

This month, operators are expected to submit their annual analysis on respective quality of service. They will provide data on call completion and call drop rates.

CCK had early this year published a notice threatening to withdraw licences issued to the country’s four mobile phone operators.

This was unless call completion rates and the call set up success rates are enhanced to 90 per cent, the number of dropped calls reduced to 2 per cent and the blocked-call rate reduced to 10 per cent. However, nothing has changed.