By Rédaction Africa Links 24 with TRACY NZIOKA
Published on 2024-01-19 07:46:40
The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has issued a warning to Telkom Kenya and Airtel Kenya, expressing dissatisfaction with the poor service quality provided by the mobile network operators. CA’s report on the Quality of Service Performance by mobile network operators for the 2022-2023 period highlighted the failure of both companies to meet their coverage targets and other critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
According to the report, Airtel Networks Kenya Limited and Telkom Kenya not only fell short of their coverage targets but also failed to meet several important KPIs, particularly the ‘unsuccessful call ratio’ and Data Internet KPIs, which are essential indicators for coverage and internet accessibility.
Safaricom, on the other hand, was able to achieve 90% of the KPIs threshold, surpassing the 80% mark, while Airtel and Telkom only achieved 79% and 65% respectively. Consequently, the Authority has imposed penalties on Airtel and Telkom for underperforming in terms of service quality and has cautioned them to improve their performance. Failure to comply with the notice will result in further penalties.
The report also revealed a significant drop in the overall performance of the mobile network industry, decreasing from 82.3% in the 2021-2022 period to 72.4% in the 2022-2023 period. The KPI compliance indicator levels showed that Safaricom had 43,727,515 subscribers, Airtel had 17,636,324 subscribers, and Telkom had 2,774,254 subscribers.
In terms of county performance, Safaricom outperformed Airtel and Telkom, achieving 87.60%, while Airtel and Telkom achieved 75.07% and 54.75% respectively. The report also highlighted the performance of the operators in specific counties, with Safaricom excelling in counties such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Lamu, Nyandarua, Kwale, Busia, and Kiambu.
However, it was noted that Airtel and Telkom showed strong performance in urban areas, with Airtel achieving 90.91% in Machakos, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kericho, Siaya, and Muranga, and Telkom achieving 72.73% in Vihiga, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Nakuru.
In conclusion, the report outlined the clear disparity in the service quality provided by different mobile network operators, with Safaricom consistently outperforming Airtel and Telkom in various areas. The Authority’s warning and penalties signal the need for significant improvement in the quality of service provided by Airtel and Telkom.
Read the original article on The Star
