NCC explains waiver on Quality of Service

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has explained the recent waiver granted some telecommunications service operators in the country, saying that they have all improved from what the network was three months ago.

The director, public affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo said that after due assessments of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), that the Commission has described to waive the planned sanction of the services operators who may have fallen short of the expectation.

According to him, all the operators, especially the major ones given notice of sanction in earlier October have improved services on the network.

The assessments were for the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) services for the months of September, October and November 2011.

He affirmed that following the decline in Quality of Service (QoS) in the networks, NCC had intimated three major networks, namely MTN, Airtel and Globacom of its intention to issue direction if the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set for QoS are not met by end of November 2011.

He outlined the KPIs to include Call Set-up Success Rate (CSSR), Call Completion Rate (CCR), Stand-alone Dedicated Controlled Channel Congestion (SDCCH), Hand-over Success Rate and Traffic Channel Congestion (TCH Cong).

Ojobo in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online explained that service providers were given till November 30, this year, to meet the above KPIs or be sanctioned.

He explained at the expiration of the period given to service providers to improve on their networks, the Commission carried out a drive-test to confirm the level of compliance to NCC’s directive, adding that the assessments was for months ending November 30.

Ojobo said that the outcome of the test revealed that Etisalat and Visafone have been consistent in their improvement towards good quality service provision. While Airtel recorded a significant improvement for the last quarter, Globacom, Starcomms and Multi-links have shown noticeable improvements. Even as MTN and Zoom Mobile showed slight step up.

The Commission, he said, is aware of the complaints of consumers arising from poor quality of service and this necessitated the directive that was given to the service providers.

“The over-riding objective of that directive is to ensure that service providers continue to invest in infrastructure with a view to ensuring continuous improvement in the quality of service provided,” he said.

NCC further urged service providers to continue to invest in infrastructure in order to ensure that the KPIs are met totally.

“In the light of the slight improvements recorded, the Commission would waive the sanctions for the months measured but would not hesitate to apply sanctions if there’s a decline in the current measurements obtained by the Commission,” he said.

He advised the operators to ensure that the necessary investments are made on the expansion of their infrastructure to be able to cope with the expected rise in voice and data traffic during this festive season.

“Any further decline in the Quality of Service (QoS) during this season will be unacceptable,” he asserted.

Remmy Nweke

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