Uganda: All Uganda Telecoms ‘Are Below Quality Standards’

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has said none of the five telecoms operating in the country meet set benchmarks for quality services, according to the Quality of Service report released this week.

The regulator’s allowance of the maximum proportion of call attempts on any network that should be blocked or dropped stands at two per cent, a mark not attained by any network.

The survey conducted around the Kampala Central Business District and suburban area among telecoms including Utl, MTN, Airtel, Warid Telecom and Orange indicate that Utl, recorded the highest number of dropped and blocked calls combined.

A blocked call according to UCC is one which, although initiated within the coverage area fails to be routed through due to network failures, whereas a dropped call is one which ends prematurely without the knowledge of the caller.

Uganda Telecom registered an increased deterioration in services provision, despite improved performance in the telecom sector between May and September 2011, according to UCC. At 18.7 per cent, Utl had the highest number of blocked calls compared to Warid’s 6.5 per cent, Airtel’s 5.4 per cent, Orange’s 4.3 per cent and MTN’s 4.2 per cent.

Reacting to the matter, Mr Jamal Sultan, Utl’s brand and communications manager, conceded to the findings but said the challenges resulting from the troubles in Libya, had prevented the telecom from investing in network upgrades for better services. However, he said the firm had lined a number of plans to invest in its network with an anticipated launch of over 200 sites.

Despite registering the highest number of dropped calls (15.6 per cent), the Warid chief commercial officer, Mr Shailendra Naidu told this newspaper he was disappointed in the findings saying the firm had invested heavily in network expansion, resulting into improved service quality.

“I don’t understand their (UCC) yardstick, our matrix is totally different. Traffic on the network has grown as well as revenue. This cannot be possible if our service quality is poor,” Mr Naidu said.

At 5.7, Utl was second with the highest number of dropped callas, followed by Airtel (4.7 per cent), MTN (3.9 per cent) and Orange with 2.4 per cent. Airtel, however, said it does not agree with the finding but would engage UCC and recommend a joint survey that can attain levelled transparency so as to benefit all players and customers.