22 Mar 2013

Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) is aware of some challenges faced by the Public Telecommunications Operators (PTO) in discharging their mandate, says Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Nonofo Molefhi.

Answering a question in Parliament, Mr Molefhi said these challenges included intermittent power cuts, natural disasters and refusal by land authorities to allocate land due to perceptions of electro-magnetic radiation.

He said BTA is equally concerned about the state of affair and is aware of the possible harm to business and possible loss of life during emergencies if customers cannot make calls due to network failure.

Mr Molefhi noted that PTOs have complaint handling procedures and in the event that customers are aggrieved by the service provided, they are required to register a complaint with the concerned operator, which could be referred to the BTA either by the licensee or the customer.

BTC, he said, is assisting the operator to acquire land as well as dismiss the misconception about electronic magnetic radiation through public education of the stakeholders.

On the other hand, Mr Molefhi said in terms of Clause 22.2 of the PTO licence, the licensees are obliged to ensure that the licensed system is operational at all times and in the event of any service interruptions for more than 24 hours, the operator is required to make public statement informing the customer of such disruptions.

Mr Molefhi also said Clause 23 requires the licensee to adopt a Code of Practice describing how operators should deal with users and such code should be made publicly available.

He said the operator has in place quality of service parameters and targets on Network Congestion, Call Drop Rate, Call Setup Success Rate Network Availability and Handover Success rate.

These parameters, he said, are in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards and all operators submit network performance report to the BTA on a monthly basis based on these parameters.

MP for Tonota North Mr Fidelis Molao had asked the minister whether Mascom, BeMobile and Orange were required to enter into any service level agreement on how they would serve the public when they were issued licenses by BTA.

Mr Molao had wanted to know if such agreement included that where there is network coverage, mobile phone users would not be interrupted even during peak hours as it frequently happens with the three mobile companies.

He asked the minister if he is aware that this scenario has the potential to harm business and even cause loss of life during emergencies if customers cannot make calls due to congestion and what is being done to ensure that this scenario does not continue. ENDS