Since the advent of the telecom boom especially, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Nigerians have, without apologies to mobile operators, come to accept poor quality of service as an additional burden they have to bear.
Although the regulator has emphasised that it should not be so.
In the last quarter of 2011, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) threatened to deal with mobile telecommunication service providers for not meeting its quality of service (QoS) targets. The regulator had then threatened to hit the hammer on MTN Nigeria, Glo and Airtel Nigeria for poor service provisioning.
By December, NCC after conducting further tests using new equipment it imported, let the three GSM operators off the hook with warnings that they should not to toy with the quality of service and customers’ expectations. On December 19, 2011, the NCC released the results of its latest Quality of Service Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which covered January to November 2011.
The KPIs measured by the Commission included Call Set Up Success Rate (CSSR), Call Completion Rate (CCR), Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel and Handover Success Rate (SDCCH), Call Data Rate (CDR) and Traffic Channel Congestion With or Without Handover (TCHCon).
The results of NCC’s December tests showed that of the four GSM operators, Etisalat was top in four of the five thresholds used in measuring quality of service. Among the CDMA mobile operators, Visafone was top followed by Starcomms while Multi-Links and ZOOMmobile had the worst quality service thresholds measured.
The report signed by Dr. B M. Sani, Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity Department, NCC, rated operators on Excellent, Good, Improvement, Fluctuation, Poor, Slight Decay and Mostly Steady Below Threshold on the KPIs.
Sani stated that “Improvement does not mean the new key performance indicator threshold is met; it meant that the trend to reach the threshold is progressing towards the set target of the indicator, taking into consideration the challenges the operators are facing today.” Apart from Etisalat, the other three GSM operators fell short of the NCC KPI thresholds although there were some improvements unlike in September-October 2011 when their networks’ quality was in bad shape.
Sometimes one wonders why a new entrant provides better quality service than other operators who have been in the market since the past 10 years. Why is Etisalat different? The difference is in Etisalat’s determination to ensure that subscribers are not disappointed in terms of quality of service that it renders. In December, NCC rated it Nigeria’s favorite network.
Since entering Nigeria three years ago, Etisalat has adopted a telecom infrastructure model of co-location, hybrid power, sharing of transmission backbones and sales and leaseback of towers which have helped it reduce capital expenditure (Capex) and operational expenditure (Opex), investing $2.46 billion,? thereby benefiting? customers through reductions of tariffs, increased coverage of networks, as well as greater profitability for the operators.
Recently, Mr. Steve Evans, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, warned his operators on the financial drainage they may experience if they continue to control everything needed in providing telecom service. He advised operators to embark on a number of operational efficiency initiatives such as optimising retail outlet formats and migrating to over-the-air recharges for prepaid customers.