Communications Authority Issues a Service Quality Warning to Telkom, Airtel

Mobile network operators Telkom Kenya and Airtel Kenya have received warnings from the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) over subpar services.

According to CA’s assessment of mobile network operators’ quality-of-service performance for 2022–2023, the two companies fell short of their coverage goals.

“Airtel Networks Kenya Limited and Telkom Kenya failed to not only meet their coverage targets but also several most critical Quality of Service Key Performance Indicators particularly the ‘unsuccessful call ratio’ and Data Internet KPIs which are indicators for coverage and internet accessibility,” the report reads in part.

According to the report, Safaricom achieved 90% of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and beyond the 80% mark, whereas Airtel and Telkom only attained 69% and 65% of the KPIs, respectively.

“The Authority, therefore, proceeded to levy a penalty for underperformance in offering quality of service by the two mobile networks and cautioned them with a non-compliance penalty that requires improvement of performance. Failure to follow the notice, a sanction level will be applied,” said the authority.

The study saw a sharp decline in the performance of the mobile network industry, from 82.3% in 2021–2022 to 72.4% in 2022–2023.

According to KPI compliance indicator levels, Telkom had 2,774,254 customers, Airtel had 17,636,324 subscribers, and Safaricom had 43,727,515 subscribers.

Safaricom led the list of network providers in each county with 87.60%, followed by Airtel with 75.07% and Telkom with 54.75%.

In Vihiga and Kajiado counties, Safaricom had the highest score (63.5%), followed by Airtel (45.45%) in Baringo and Laikipia counties and Telkom (36.36%) in Muranga and Laikipia counties.

The two mobile providers did, however, do well in urban areas; Airtel, with a score of 90.91 percent, was the best in Machakos, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kericho, Siaya, and Murang’a, while Telkom, with a score of 72.73 percent, was the best in Vihiga, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Nakuru.

It was also found that Safaricom has greater coverage in the majority of counties, with the highest performing counties being Nairobi, Mombasa, Lamu, Nyandarua, Kwale, Busia, and Kiambu.