Quality of service is again going down
In the past few weeks, services of the telecom network providers are
once again on the wane. Incidence of high rate of call drop outs, poor
voice quality, call diversions and delays in text message delivery is
widespread and many Nigerians are becoming increasingly exasperated. It
is even more annoying that in the midst of the dismal performance, the
networks, particularly the MTN, are inundated with advertorials and
promotional items, items that invariably worsen the quality of service.
It is noteworthy that due to the declining quality of service by the
telecom providers, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) once
imposed some hefty penalties on all the major operators and a further
ban on all manner of promotions. In spite of the repeated sanctions,
incidence of declining services is yet to be adequately addressed. Not
only have the directives been disobeyed, the quality of their services
has also nosedived. At the peak of the dubious promotional campaigns
there was no trick that was not employed by the operators to win over
subscribers or to compel them to spend more money on services in return
for very ludicrous prizes. Sadly, the interventions by the NCC are again
being breached with impunity as the networks have returned to their old
ways.
With dropped calls and non-completion of calls now standard practices
by the telecom providers, many telecom subscribers simply resign
themselves to fate since they do seem to have any means of going round
the problem. Even the expensive habit of carrying two or three phone
handsets of different networks is to no avail since there are periods
when none of the networks would work. Also the impact of the Mobile
Number portability - an initiative which gives subscribers the leeway to
move their telephone numbers to any network of choice in search of
better service quality- is almost nil. Quality of service by the telecom
operators is still less than satisfactory. But this state of affair
definitely cannot be allowed to continue.
There is abundant evidence that Nigeria remains a major growing market
for telecom operators as the nation's teledensity has continued to grow
despite poor services. Recently, the Minister of Communications
Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson admitted that telecoms infrastructure in
the country is inadequate and enjoined operators to increase the number
of installed infrastructure to address the issue of poor service
quality. “There is a link between infrastructure and quality of service.
We do not have enough telecoms infrastructure in the country,” declared
Johnson. She urged the telecom operators to “quicken the rollout of
more base stations and other telecoms infrastructure that will improve
service quality across the country.” And to lessen the burden of running
the networks made more expensive because of erratic power supply, she
also appealed to state governments from imposing multiple taxes on the
operators. We are aligned with the views of the minister and urge the
ministry to constantly engage the service providers and other
stakeholders toward the realisation of better services.
There are some 25,000 base stations currently spread across the country
serving over 130 million subscribers and 100,000-kilometre fibre laying
for the same number of subscribers, facilities described by experts as
grossly inadequate for the country’s large subscription numbers.
For now, it is obvious that Nigerian subscribers and consumers of
telecommunication services are not getting value for their money.
Whatever it will take for quality services to be restored must be done
to ensure that subscribers are spared the agony of poor service delivery
from the networks.
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