Zambia - poor QoS

Zambian Mobile Providers Respond to Findings of Poor Service

Mobile service providers in Zambia have started to address network-performance shortcomings identified by the Communications Authority of Zambia.

All three service providers in the country requested the authority's findings and have begun to work on concerns, Communication Authority of Zambia public relations officer Ngabo Nankonde said last week.

Providers were offering shoddy services in many parts of the country, the authority found, and it threatened to punish them if they did not improve. The shoddy service amounted to stealing from customers, which is a crime under Zambian laws, the authority found in the survey on performance conducted early this year.

The technical team at the communications authority has continued gathering routine information on the services provided by the service providers, and the authority will continue publishing the findings to the service providers and users, Nankonde said.

"We had some responses from the service providers and are working at addressing the issues raised in the study. Zamtel has written to us stating that they are already working on their system," Nankonde said.

The preliminary study by the Communications Authority of Zambia found that all three service providers, Celtel, CellZ and Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN), were failing in their performance.