Airtel Kenya has made a number of improvements to its network in order to meet the regulatory minimum threshold on quality of calls across the country.
Airtel Managing Director, Prasanta Das Sarma told Business Daily that 270 sites were upgraded from 2G and 3G sites to 4G while more than 400 sites were added in upcountry towns and highways.
“In total, the upgrade covered 20 counties. Some more sites will be added by end of April when the work will be done,” says Sarma. “We are vindicated when we see more customers using us. With this kind of expansion, we will be able to satisfy CA criteria (on voice quality).”
Airtel Africa – and Telkom – came under fire earlier this year when the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) placed the telco’s under scrutiny after allegedly violating the quality of services across their networks.
According to Gadgets Africa, the CA believes both telcos failed to meet the minimum 80% threshold on quality of calls across 33 counties in 2020.
“Telkom Kenya scored an average mark of 73% while Airtel had 52% in the survey conducted last year. Meanwhile, Safaricom dominated with a 92% overall mark in the survey.”
In a recent report, the CA says that “as Airtel’s and Telkom’s performance did not meet the set target of 80 percent for voice services they were issued notices of non–compliance that require the firms to improve their quality of services in the country in compliance with the set threshold.”
“The Authority is evaluating their performance again in the 2020/2021 assessments for confirmation of compliance with the requested improvement.”
