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Zambia criminally charges operators

Bonnie Tubbs
By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 08 Jul 2013
Zambia's telecoms regulator has taken all three of the country's mobile operators to task over poor quality of service.
Zambia's telecoms regulator has taken all three of the country's mobile operators to task over poor quality of service.

Zambia's telecommunications regulator is instituting criminal proceedings against all three of the country's mobile operators - MTN Zambia, Airtel Networks and Zamtel - for failure to meet the minimum standards of quality service.

Lusaka-based Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) says it has resolved to take "remedial measures" relating to enforcement of quality of service in the public's interest, in terms of the south central African country's Information and Communication Technologies Act.

ZICTA notes, under the published quality of service guidelines, the body has an option to invoke either administrative or criminal sanctions arising from the failure to adhere to the set parameters relating to quality of service.

Public outcry

ZICTA says deteriorating levels of quality of service from the country's mobile operators has made communication difficult and resulted in increased public outcry and negative impact on ease of doing business in Zambia.

The authority's spokesperson, Ngabo Nankonde, says criminal proceedings against MTN, Airtel and Zamtel began last week Thursday, following authorisation from the board. All three mobile service providers were deemed guilty of offering poor quality of service to the public.

The move has won the favour of Zambia's mobile consumers, who have taken to social media channels to voice their opinions. Many welcome the move, saying it is "long overdue" - but at the same time they remain cautiously optimistic, hoping the authority's statement will amount to sufficient action to match the talk.

This post echoes the general sentiment on Facebook following ZICTA's statement: "You really need to take action [as well as make noise]. Something needs to be done, they are busy amassing billions. Better services are needed. If they fail to comply bring in another service provider."

Out of Zambia's approximately 14 million inhabitants, over 8.5 million are cellphone subscribers. Airtel has the largest market share, followed by MTN.

Local liability

SA's telecoms regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), released its own quality of service report on SA's three main operators - Vodacom, MTN and Cell C - about three months ago.

According to ICASA's End-User and Subscriber Service Charter, which came into effect in August 2009, mobile operators face fines for poor network standards.

ICASA's report revealed deficiencies on the part of all three operators, with Vodacom failing to meet the call setup success rate in Eastern Cape, and Cell C and MTN failing to meet these in the Western Cape. In terms of dropped call rate, neither Cell C nor Vodacom attained the targets in the KwaZulu-Natal region.

However, without the muscle to institute measures against operators for non-compliance, ICASA's report - at least for now - is merely a paper report. ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka recently said the authority is compelled to ensure operators meet certain standards, but does not have the capacity to institute punitive measures as yet.

In addition, SA's operators previously disputed ICASA's reports, demanding the authority divulge the methodology as to how it arrived at the findings. This has yet to be finalised.

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