Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Ngabo Nankonde – Picture by Albert Mpezeni
The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has penalized all three (3) Mobile Network Operators for failing to adhere to the Quality of Service parameters as outlined in the Quality of Service Guidelines during the fourth quarter of 2017 and first quarter of 2018 respectively.
The three Mobile Phone Operators, Airtel Networks Zambia Plc, MTN Zambia Limited and ZAMTEL Limited have been fined a total of K12.6 million for failing to meet some of the set parameters on quality of service which collectively include Call Set Up Success Rate, Mean Opinion Score, Successful SMS Rate, SMS Delivery Time and HTTP Success log-ins, HTTP Success Rate as well as HTTP Down Rates 2G and 3G.
ZICTA Corporate Communications Manager Ngabo Nankonde says the Authority has fined MTN (Zambia) Limited K3.6 million, Airtel Networks Zambia Plc K4.2 million while ZAMTEL Limited has been fined K4.8 million.
In a statement made available to Q-news, Ms Nakonde explains that the Authority arrived at this decision following an Inquiry which was held on May 28, 2018 at which the mobile operators appeared and made submissions and presentations.
She says during the period October 1st to December 31st, 2017 and January 1st to March 31st, 2018, the Authority conducted inspections with respect to Quality of Service by the three Mobile Network Operators.
She says Section 67 (1) of the ICT Act No. 15 of 2009, places an obligation on the service providers to meet such minimum standards of Quality of Service as the Authority may specify or publish.
Ms Nakonde has stressed that the Authority is empowered to promote the interests of consumers and therefore authorized under section 67(1) of the ICT Act to specify and publish the minimum standards of quality of service which all service providers must meet.
She has warned the Mobile Network Operators and other players in the ICT sector that the regulator will not hesitate to strictly enforce the law on any operator failing to meet the set parameters on Quality of Service guidelines.