Kenya - Govt calls on telcos to improve quality of services to a minimum thresholds

[xinhuanet] The Kenyan government on Monday called on African telecommunications companies to improve quality of services to make them effective to their consumers.

Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio told a regional telecommunications meeting in Nairobi that despite stiff competition, a majority of operators in many African countries are yet to meet the minimum thresholds for quality.

"As I speak the Communications Commission of Kenya is now carrying out comprehensive benchmark measurement for the four mobile operators following the gazattement of mandatory quality of service parameters that licensees have to meet," the minister told the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) meeting in Nairobi.

He also called on the African ICT groups to be more stringent in vetting equipment that gets into the continent as one way of dealing with electronic waste.

The minister said the provision of quality telecommunication services in a safe environment where participants heard that mobile operators in the continent are yet to meet the minimum threshold of quality of service. "This could be partly ascribed to high rates of service subscription, which have exerted pressure on the mobile network resources of service providers," he said.

Poghisio however pointed out that this calls for regulators to sensitise consumers on the best ways to take advantage of the competitive environment in the telecommunications sector to get value for their money.

One such way, he said, would be to implement mechanisms that would enable the subscriber to switch to another network with minimal inconveniencies.

Kenya urges African telecom firms to improve quality