NCA sanctions: We have issues with the fine - Vodafone

Vodafone Ghana says it is engaging the National Communications Authority (NCA) following the authority’s sanction for falling short of some quality of service (QoS) requirements.

Vodafone Ghana, as well as the other Mobile Network Operators, were fined a total of GHC34,065,000.00 the GHC8,890,000 fine by the NCA for poor quality services.

In an interview with Ghanaweb, External Affairs Director at Vodafone Ghana, Gayheart Mensah disclosed that Vodafone Ghana is applying the necessary mechanisms to engage the NCA in a dialogue since it is not completely satisfied with the outcome of the QoS assessment.

“We’ve been fined by the NCA for some aspects of quality of service. We have received the letter detailing the fine and as a law-abiding organization, we are doing what is required to ensure that we are compliant, and by compliant I mean, having the necessary engagement because we definitely have issues with the fine. We have issues with how that particular assessment was arrived at,” he stated.

Mr. Mensah added that “we are going through what is required or what a law-abiding organization would do in order to ensure that whatever issues we have are taken into consideration in the context in which we find ourselves. So we are engaging with the regulator on the fine that has come up.”

He opined that inasmuch as the NCA strives to prioritize the rights of consumers, telcos would ensure that the protection of such rights would be done in a law-abiding and transparent manner.

“The regulator is always interested in protecting the consumer and very often they would go at length to ensure that consumer rights are protected. We as operators would continue to collaborate with the regulator to ensure that even as they protect consumers, who are our consumers as well, it is done in such a way that it is fair, transparent and also ensuring that it is within the framework of the laws and regulations that govern what we do,” he explained.

Background

The National Communications Authority (NCA) has sanctioned all four Mobile Network Operators (MNOs); AirtelTigo, Glo, MTN and Vodafone for their non-compliance with various Quality of Service (QoS) requirements.

The four were fined a total of GHC34,065,000.00 – AirtelTigo (GHC11,635,000.00), Glo (GHC4,460,000.00), MTN (GHC9,080,000.00) and Vodafone (GHC8,890,000.00).

The NCA regularly undertakes QoS Monitoring to determine MNOs’ compliance with their licence conditions and to ensure that consumers receive the quality service they have paid for.

In the first quarter of this year (2018), the Authority undertook QoS monitoring of all MNOs in the Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Northern Regions and two districts in the Ashanti Region in the phase one of a nationwide monitoring exercise.

The monitoring enabled the Authority to determine the MNOs which were unable to meet their Licence Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in some District Capitals with regards to QoS; Obligations for Coverage, Data, Voice and Speech Quality.

As has been the practice, the NCA subsequently held reconciliation meetings with all four (4) MNOs and they were given three (3) months ending 21st August, 2018 to cure the infractions detected.

At the end of the deadline, the NCA embarked on a follow up monitoring to ascertain if the QoS infractions recorded had been resolved.

This follow up monitoring revealed that though the KPIs in some District Capitals had improved, the MNOs were not able to meet the KPI thresholds as per their licences. The NCA, as a result, has sanctioned the MNOs.