Mobile phone companies face sanctions over service shortfalls

The directive follows numerous complaints concerning interconnectivity and poor network services that have in the past few months made it impossible for consumers to route their calls through one of the operators to the other.

At a press conference in Accra addressed by the Director General Bernard Forson, the two mobile telephone operators were asked to "clean up" their acts within the next 30 days, ending on 8 November 2007, or face severe sanctions.

Forson observed that in spite of appreciable strides recorded in the industry, "the quality of service is anything but good."

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

Whereas authorities of the MTN network have been asked to drastically improve their services to address the growing traffic and resultant complaints of various types by the public, the NCA has also directed both networks (MTN/OneTouch), to cease new access line activation until their networks are appropriately dimensioned to take on additional capacity.

Both operators have also been tasked to resolve their inter-network problems by the 19 October 2007, without which the Communications Authority would order for an audit to be undertaken and sanction the offending party.

Noting that consumers should not be taken for granted, Forson said the NCA observed in a market assessment that both qualitative and quantitative services of MTN and OneTouch needed improvement, particularly when both parties carried 88 percent of total mobile network traffic.

Complaints about the quality of service of the two networks have been ongoing for a number of years. There have been instances when the actions of one network led to the other network blocking calls routed from the competitor's network.

Forson admitted the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the license conditions did not appropriately capture the "realities on the ground therefore giving room for the deplorable quality of service."

The Authority would from now take immediate steps to modify the performance indicators in the license conditions whilst at the same time negotiating with a market research company to undertake quarterly surveys of the quality of service experienced by consumers.

Other interventions to ensure quality of services include efforts by the Authority to acquire a Quality of Service Drive Test Equipment to independently monitor the performance of network operators and quantitatively measure degrees of service quality across the country in a timely manner.

Falling short of mentioning the mode of sanctions to be applied but at the same time hinting at the possibility of a complete blackout of adverts and monetary sanctions, Forson said the NCA in the meantime is exploring a number of measures, including increased market participation and the levying of charges for access numbers within the next quarter, and deploying number portability to enhance customer choice.

The last time the NCA imposed a monetary sanction for quality of service, was contested by the service provider, the former Areeba now MTN.

Meanwhile, MTN has stopped the sale of its starter packs across the country in response to the authority's directive.

The latest entrant on the Ghanaian mobile telephone market said it was already in the process of expanding its facilities to meet increased demand brought about by the launch of the brand in August this year.

However, the company allegedly blamed OneTouch for the existing interconnectivity problems saying it did not fall within its area of control.

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