NCA warns cell phone operators

Accra, Oct. 10, GNA - The National Communications Authority (NCA) on Wednesday directed cell phone networks to clean up their acts by November 8, 2007, or face severe sanctions.

NCA asked MTN network in particular to drastically improve its services to address hiccups resulting from growing traffic, which the public had been complaining about.

The directive comes against the backdrop of persistent complaints of poor quality service rendered by the mobile networks - MTN, TIGO, OneTouch and Kasapa.

The NCA also directed MTN and OneTouch to cease new access line activation until their networks were appropriately dimensioned to take on additional capacity.

Both operators, who account for 88 per cent of the mobile traffic flow, were also asked to resolve their inter-network problems by October 19, 2007, failure of which the NCA would cause an audit to be undertaken and the offending party severely sanctioned.

It asked OneTouch to release interconnect facility to MTN to ensure free flow of traffic by the end of business day on October 19. At a press conference in Accra to address the quality of service in the telecommunications industry in the country, Mr Bernard Forson, Director General NCA, said notwithstanding the appreciable strides made in the industry, "the quality of service is anything but good". He said operators had the responsibility to plan and dimension their networks appropriately to absorb new market demands and growing traffic.

"Consumers must not be short changed, with growing demand for services, anymore or less than your respective shareholders. The duality of growth and the provision of quality of service must be maintained at all times.

"The Authority, therefore, shall take all measures internally and externally to ensure that enhanced expansion corresponds to quality of service."

Mr Forson said in the NCA's qualitative and quantitative market assessment, the services of MTN and OneTouch needed improvement, particularly when both parties carried 88 per cent of total mobile network traffic.

"Consequently, any hitch in traffic flows will adversely affect service quality."

He said NCA had realized that as deplorable as the quality of service had been, the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the licence conditions did not appropriately capture the realities on the ground. As a result it was possible for service to be sub-standard and still be in compliance with the KPI.

Mr Forson said in order to better align service level experience of the consuming public with the KPI, the Authority would immediately take steps to modify these performance indicators in the licence conditions. To complement these, he said, the NCA was negotiating with a reputable market research consultancy to undertake quarterly surveys of the quality of service as experienced by consumers, the results of which would be made available to the public and also be factored into the Authority's assessment of the operators.

"We believe that in the short term, by authoritatively naming and shaming offending operators, along with sanctions, efforts will not be spared by operators to responsibly meet their obligations." Mr Forson said the Authority was in the process of acquiring a Quality of Service Drive Test Equipment to independently monitor the performance of the network operators and quantitatively measure degrees of service quality across the country in a timely manner. The Authority, he said, was exploring a portfolio of measures, including increased market participation, levying charges for access numbers, within the next quarter, and/or deploying Number Portability to enhance customer choice.

Mr Forson did not specifically indicate the kind of sanctions to be meted out to service providers, who flouted the conditions for being granted licences, but hinted that it could be a complete blackout of adverts and monetary sanctions. When a journalist told the NCA that the mobile operators knew the level to which the Authority could bite hence the low quality of service delivery, Mr Forson said: "Let them try me". 10 Oct. 07