Quest for high quality in telephone network service

It would be recalled that far away in Bangkok, Thailand, at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Telecom world 2013, the issue of Quality of Service rendered by telecommunications operators in the country reverberated, though the Secretary-General of ITU, Dr Hamadun Toure, had praised Nigeria for posting the highest growth in subscriber base among the telecommunications […]

It would be recalled that far away in Bangkok, Thailand, at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Telecom world 2013, the issue of Quality of Service rendered by telecommunications operators in the country reverberated, though the Secretary-General of ITU, Dr Hamadun Toure, had praised Nigeria for posting the highest growth in subscriber base among the telecommunications markets in the world for five consecutive years, the dent of poor quality of service did not fail to resurface at that event.
Unfortunately, one of the major factors militating against improved quality of service in Nigeria, which the nation’s telecom regulatory body, NCC is tackling; is the inability of the network operators to expand their network infrastructure in other to support the high growth rate of subscribers which the operators facilitate through the massive roll-out of unjustifiable promos to increase their subscribers base via selling of SIM cards which invariably congest the network.
In the foregoing context, selling of more SIM cards to prospective subscribers should be accompanied by massive roll-out of network infrastructure like Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Base Station Controller (BSC), Mobile Station Controller (MSC), among other relevant telecom infrastructure necessary for efficient quality service delivery to Nigerian subscribers who have been living with the burden of poor quality of service. The expansion of network infrastructure by the operators would not only improve the quality of service delivery to subscribers, which would invariably give them value for their hard-earned money, but at the same time create more jobs for the teeming unemployed youths roaming the streets of this country. The economic revolution going on in the Nigerian telecom sector which Dr Toure attested to during the 2013 ITU Telecom conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, has not only increased the number of active lines in the country tremendously, but has also culminated in the creation of millions of lucrative jobs, thereby reducing the number of unemployed youths in the country drastically. It is on record that Nigeria’s Telecoms market has attracted more Foreign Direct Investment than any other telecommunications market in the sub-Sahara Africa; at the same time, it has been rated the second largest telecommunications market in the world.

Following recorded achievements of the nation’s telecom industry; despite the menace of poor quality of service which is being curtailed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), other Africa’s telecom industries have adopted Nigeria’s telecom industry as the reference point in Africa’s telecom sector, all kudos to the reforms being propelled by the experts at the Nigerian Communications Commission.
In the quest to improved quality of service rendered by operators, NCC introduced Key Performance Indications (KPIs), which are in line with global best practices use in measuring the performance of telecom operating companies in the area of service quality. But over time, telecom operators keep failing the test, with exception of one or two who manage to scale through as at the time the test was carried out. Specifically on May 10, 2012 the regulator had imposed a fine of N360 million each on MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and Etisalat Nigeria. On the other hand, Airtel Nigeria was required to pay N270 million, while Globacom was required to pay a fine of N180 million for failing to meet the set KPIs. The grace period extended to telecom operators ran out December, 2013, and the regulator is currently analysing data collected from carriers’ NOC and drive test actual user experiences, at the end of which carrier not meeting the agreed KPIs will be finally penalised.
Enhancing the quality of service in the telecom sector would still remain a pipe dream if the bottlenecks militating against the expansion of telecom infrastructure are not sorted out. Some of the impediments included but not limited to: Right-of-Way (RoW), destruction of telecom infrastructure by criminals, epileptic power supply, insecurity, etc. But the good news to subscribers is that the regulator, NCC and the supervising ministry of communications and Technology are not losing sleep over these impediments. The efforts by the ministry and regulator in dismantling some of the perceived impediments that hinder quality of service and effective regulations have recently started to yield results with the Lagos state government significantly reducing right of way cost and other taxes levied by the state government. The government stated that it has been shown that investments and consequent multiplier effects far outweigh revenue that could accrue to the state from prohibitive levy and restrictions on access. The Federal Government had led the way on providing clear-cut pathway for regulating access by rolling out regulation for Right-of-Way on Federal Highways. The NCC is taking further measures in tackling these challenges. They include: the release of Broadband Roadmap, a broadband auction for 2.3 GHz—the process of which has started, Licensing of Infrastructure companies—Infracos, the Right-of-Way breakthroughs with Federal and Lagos state governments, and of course the very vigorous quality of service Monitoring of operators network performance. The NCC had stepped up to checkmate the excesses of telemarking activities, which equally put a lot of pressure on the network infrastructure at the same time effect the quality of service delivery.

In furtherance for improved quality of service, telecom operators are contemplating outsourcing their tower services via Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Outsourcing of tower services is a global phenomenon as far as the telecoms business is concerned, operators in Nigeria are, however thinking on how to leverage on this business now; not only to cut down on their cost of operations, but to enhance efficient service delivery to the subscribers.
Chidiebere wrote from Abuja <[email protected]>;