Maravi

Communications Authority to monitor quality of services

Communications Authority to monitor quality of services
By Chibaula Silwamba
Saturday December 08, 2007 [03:00]

COMMUNICATIONS Authority chief executive officer Shuller Habeenzu has said the authority is installing equipment to monitor quality of services and billing accuracy of phone and Internet service providers. In an interview on Tuesday in Lusaka, Habeenzu said the authority had engaged a Spanish company called Ibys at a cost of about K4 billion to install the equipment that would be operational before Christmas.

“We have now signed an agreement with a Spanish company called Ibys to install equipment for monitoring quality of service system which will monitor both the technical quality of the call and accuracy of the billing including the Internet services or data and other services that are being provided right now,” responded Habeenzu when asked about complaints from Celtel clients over difficulties to connect to GPRS Internet.

“That will give us the capacity to understand what is happening and we will be able to respond and deal with these issues. Right now we are incapacitated on one or two issues but that is why we are investing in technical capability.”

Habeenzu said most clients of communication services providers’ complaints were on poor quality of service and inaccurate billing.

“Obviously the major complaint is the issue of quality of service; what we know right now is that consumers who are in areas that are being serviced by satellite to Lusaka tend to have lower quality of service than those linked by terrestrial backbone network,” he said. “There is also a complaint of the money they pay for poor quality. But generally it’s two things; quality of service and the cost or inaccuracy of billing.”

Earlier during a cocktail hosted by Communication Authority for stakeholders that rendered support to the authority during the change of the National Numbering Plan, Habeenzu said the authority had signed a contract for K12 billion to improve the frequency spectrum. He also said the authority was in the final phases of numbering change.

“The numbering change was necessary in order to cater for the growth which we anticipated. The global mobile subscriber base hit three billion in July this year,” he said. “We will continue monitoring the experiences of the consumers and also work together with the operators in trying to address the problems.”

Habeenzu also said high cost to access communication services restricted the poor from accessing the services.

“We have to address the high cost of services which is obviously making it impossible for many people to access the services, and most people who can’t access the services are in the rural areas,” said Habeenzu.

Labels: COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

posted by MrK @ 6:18 AM