Kenya’s three mobile phone operators have failed to meet the quality of service targets set by the Communications Authority of Kenya.
This is according to an assessment report by the regulator on the performance of mobile networks in the country for the period between 2014 and 2015 none met the set minimum Quality of Service (QoS) threshold of 80% similar to the last financial period 2013 and 2014.
“Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Orange did not register any significant improvement in their overall performance, all having managed 62.5 per cent, the same score they had the previous financial year,” according to the report released by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on Tuesday.
The assessment was carried out while the market still had four mobile operators, Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and yuMobile, but the number reduced to three following exit of Essar Telekom from the Kenyan market in 2014.
The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to gauge the extent to which their services conform to the required standards include:
Call Completion Rate, Call Drop Rate, Call Block Rate, Speech Quality, Call Set Up Time, Handover Success Rate, Call Set Up Success Rate and signal strength of the operators from Base Transmission Station (mobile tower).
The report indicates that operators complied with QoS targets on Handover Success Rate, Voice Quality, Call Drop rate, Call setup time and Signal Strength. The performance on speech quality improved for the three operators. However, the operators were ranked poorly on signal strengths in a number of regions.
The assessment is conducted annually to ascertain compliance of the operators with the Kenya Information and Communication Act, 1998, the attendant Regulations and license conditions in relation to QoS.