CA warns Airtel, Telkom over poor high quality companies

Prospects at an Airtel store. The telco scored 79 % within the high quality of service survey whereas Telkom Kenya managed solely 65 %. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has issued warning notices to Airtel and Telkom Kenya for non-compliance with the High quality of Service (QoS) requirements supplied to customers on their cell telephony networks.

In its just-released QoS report for the yr ended June 2023, the business regulator signifies that solely market chief Safaricom surpassed the 80 % efficiency threshold after it posted a 90 % rating of the set Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs).

“The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has issued warning notices to Airtel and Telkom Kenya for non-compliance with the standard of service (QoS) offered to customers on their cell telephony networks,” the regulator mentioned in a press release.

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In accordance with the report, Airtel and Telkom Kenya attained 79 % and 65 % respectively, translating to an business common of 72.4 %, with the rating being a major drop in comparison with the common of 82.3 % attained within the yr to June 2022 and 75.5 % within the earlier yr.

CA says {that a} cell operator is rated compliant once they attain 80 % of the set QoS KPIs.

“Airtel Kenya Networks and Telkom Kenya failed to satisfy not solely their protection targets but additionally quite a lot of probably the most vital QoS KPIs, notably the ‘Unsuccessful Name Ratio’ and ‘Information Web’ KPIs, which is an indicator for protection and Web availability/accessibility respectively,” reads the report.

Telkom Kenya posted the steepest drop from the 73 % mark it obtained in the course of the 2021/2022 interval to 54.8 % within the newest launch, in a growth linked to a community disruption final June after the American Tower Company switched off its towers for failing to pay excellent leasing charges.

CA has flagged ageing base transceiver stations, in addition to their sparse deployment, because the most certainly contributing issue to the failure of Airtel and Telkom Kenya to satisfy the KPI thresholds, including that the 2 confirmed good efficiency in urbanized areas whereas having below-average protection in rural and far-flung areas.

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“The Authority has, subsequently, proceeded to levy a penalty for underperformance in providing high quality of service within the cell community subsector by Telkom Kenya and Airtel Networks,” mentioned the regulator.

“The penalty was accompanied by a discover of non-compliance, which requires the networks to enhance on their present efficiency in the course of the subsequent evaluation and failure for which an escalated sanction degree shall be utilized.”

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