To guarantee that telecommunications businesses in the nation provide high-quality services, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has released a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and regulations.
The Commission claims that the new QoS Regulations 2024 establish precise guidelines for the various telecom network segments that encompass 2G, 3G, and 4G. It focuses on variables like traffic congestion, call setup success rate, and drop call rates, among others.
The NCC further disclosed that noncompliance with all requirements will result in a fine of N5 million, with an extra N500,000 every day for the duration of the violation. The telecoms must provide their QoS reports every month, according to the Commission, BrandSpur telecom, and IT news reports.
Simultaneously, it would conduct its measurement using techniques that might involve user surveys, drive tests, and data collection from its Network Operating Centres (NOCs).
The recent 50% telecom service target set by Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, is said to have served as the impetus for the new QoS rule. According to NCC, the company has made the decision to reach this goal by year’s end.
Continuing, other goals in Tijani’s Strategic Agenda 2023, according to a recent statement from the telecom regulator, include increasing Nigeria’s broadband penetration rate to 70% by the end of 2025; providing data download speeds of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas by the same date; and ensuring coverage for at least 80% of the nation’s population by the end of 2026, with a focus on underserved and unserved populations.
The Commission, according to the local news brand, stated that to meet the quality of service target, it has chosen an approach that involves gathering more detailed data from operators and analyzing it to assess the quality of service at very localized levels.
This allows for the deployment of optimised solutions or the implementation of regulatory actions as necessary. Rather than adopting a national outlook on data collection for quality of service delivery, the Commission said.
Going further, it also stated that the strategy goes beyond the limited and highly technical evaluation of Quality of Service to guarantee that the customers experience an improved Quality of Experience.
The new rules could indicate that the telecom regulator is prepared to retaliate and impose fines, even though it has been silent on the subject of service quality for a while despite concerns from subscribers.
The most recent fine related to QoS was levied against a telecom provider in 2020; Airtel was fined N2.3 billion by the Commission for disconnecting Exchange Telecommunications Limited without obtaining regulatory consent. The NCC’s QoS and enforcement procedure requirements were found to have been broken by this.
Before that, in 2019, the Commission also penalized MTN Airtel, Glo, 9mobile, and four other GSM providers, a total of N2.97 billion, for several violations, including QoS.
Both Airtel and 9mobile received N5 million fines in the same year for breaking the NCC’s Do-Not-Disturb directive. Subscribers are shielded from unsolicited Val themue-added Services (VAS) by this regulation.
New QoS rules are being released amid telecom operators’ efforts to lessen the effects of the nation’s high inflation and Naira depreciation.
Due to significant currency losses, telecom companies are reducing their operating expenses and investing less in network infrastructure. The quality of their service is already being impacted by this.
However, the operators contend that granting them permission to raise charges is the only way to save the telecom regulator’s skin.
