MACRA engages telecommunications operators on better quality services

Lilongwe, August 29, MANA: The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) says it is concerned about the declining Quality of Service (QoS) for voice calls and mobile data services in the country.

MACRA Director of Telecommunication Edward Kauka expressed the concern in Lilongwe on Tuesday, when he opened a ‘Better quality of service for Malawi stakeholders meeting for telecommunication companies and consumers.

He said the Authority has received numerous complaints from subscribers of telecommunication services over among other things, poor network, drop calls and expensive data.

“Telecommunication is a vital tool in development, for you to do business you need to communicate and you need telecommunication in place, if these key elements are not there you are regarded as someone who is dead. So we thought for them to bring good services in this country we needed to bring all players together so that we can move forward as one team,” he said

Kauka said during the stakeholders meeting MACRA has engaged an expert from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the “Better QoS for Malawi Project” who will guide the efforts to improve mobile network services in Malawi.

“During this meeting, telecommunication companies’ officials who are attending including Airtel, TNM, Access and others will discuss their challenges and how to improve on the complaints from consumers.

At the end of the meeting, we are going to revise some of the key performance indicators(KPI) which operators are to supposed to be following. We will also revise regulations which operators are supposed to abide to when they are providing services, if they cannot meet these regulations, they will be charged and punished, this will ensure an improvement in quality of services,” He said.

He said MACRA is responsible for regulating and monitoring communication services in Malawi with an aim to provide reliable and sufficient services while prioritizing transparency, certainty, market orientation, efficiency, and consumer satisfaction.

Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA)Executive Director John Kapito bemoaned expensive data and erratic mobile phone networks in most parts of the country.

“We have been complaining to MACRA and we are glad they have stepped in to engage us consumers and the telecommunications companies improve their services. The mobile call bundles and data are expensive for the consumers,” he said

Kapito also urged mobile telecommunication companies TNM and Airtel to address fraud on their mobile money services saying many people have fallen victims to theft.

A Consultant for MACRA Better QoS for Malawi Project, Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor said quality services in telecommunications is a continuous improvement process but is met by challenges such as power outages, among other things.

He however said quality of services challenges can be overcome, if the service providers investigate and work together to address their challenges.

The Better QoS for Malawi project will run from August 25th, 2023, to February 25th, 2024 and aims to among other things Identify areas that require improvement to enhance the user experience and enhance the quality of mobile network services and better overall user satisfaction.

Mana/scm/sbn