Telecom service quality improves as Airtel gets highest complaints
A lady makes a call. A Quality of Services report by Uganda Communications Commissions shows Airtel has recorded the highest number of customer complaints. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA.
What you need to know:
Orange had the lowest percentage rate for dropped calls.
Kampala
Airtel subscribers are the most affected when it comes to billing problems, receiving unsolicited messages and erratic internet services, a new report shows.
The Uganda Communications Commission latest Quality of Services (QoS) report released on Monday indicates that on a scale of 0-14, Airtel registered 14 billing complaints compared to MTN’s 2.5, Uganda Telecom’s less than 1 per cent and Orange’s 2.5 in a survey conducted between October and December 2013.
Erratic internet services
The company also registered the highest number of complaints for sending unsolicited messages, erratic internet services and failure to give subscribers the agreed speed, running misleading adverts and mobile money-related complaints among others.
It was followed by MTN and Orange in the second and third order while UTL registered the least complaints over the period.
The report, however, indicates that 77.8 per cent of the total complaints received were resolved by the respective service providers while 22.2 per cent are still pending. The quality of service rendered by providers has, however, improved and that most subscribers are able to initiate and complete calls without being prematurely terminated by the service provider.
The report shows that none of the surveyed service providers fell short of UCC’s 2 per cent set maximum limit for dropped calls - an unsuccessful call attempt within a network coverage area due to network failure.
For instance, orange had the lowest percentage rate for dropped calls at 1.09 per cent, followed by MTN (1.28 t), Airtel (1.33), UTL (1.53) and Warid (1.53). This therefore means an improvement in the quality of service rendered compared to earlier reports where none of the five GSM network service providers met UCC’s set minimum operating standards for quality service.
This newspaper was, however, unable to get a comment from Airtel as the questions were not responded to by press time.
Airtel tops the list of customer complaints
How telecoms ranked on a scale of 0 -14
Type of complaint Airtel MTN UTL Orange Other service providers
Billing 14 2.5 0.5 2.5 0.6
Unsolicited messages 9 5 0.5 0.5 0.4
Data/internet 5 2.5 1.9 1.9 1.9
Mobile money 3 2.5 0.5 0.5 0.4
Promotions 2 3 0.5 0.5 0.4
