Mmegi: As you may have noted, over the festive period, social media was flooded with consumer complaints about poor data and Internet services by the different operators. Did BOCRA receive any formal complaints over this period?
Nyelesi: For the record, BOCRA has not receive any reported complaints about Quality of Service on data services during the festive season. Kindly note that the procedure for addressing complaints is for consumers to direct their complaints to their respective service providers first for the service providers to resolve them. Only complaints that could not be resolved at operator level are escalated to BOCRA.
Mmegi: Did BOCRA, even in the absence of formal complaints, note any pattern of substandard or sub-quality data/Internet service over the festive season?
Nyelesi: BOCRA observed the usual changes in user patterns expected during the festive period as networks for places like Gaborone carried lower than normal traffic while networks for places like home villages carried more than usual traffic sometimes experiencing congestion. Similar temporary congestion happened at entertainment places where people converged in large numbers.
Some places experienced congestion as a result of temporary crowding which negatively impacted quality of service.
Mmegi: What has BOCRA done or is doing in this regard to remedy the situation?
Nyelesi: BOCRA uses a Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring system to track the daily performance of mobile networks across the country. The December stats indicated a slight dip in aggregated performance at both the district and national levels relative to the set performance standards as provided for in the QoS/QoE guidelines.
It is expected that during festive holidays, as most subscribers migrate to villages, they will experience low network performance due to the high number of subscribers in areas with networks provisioned for less traffic. Since this occurrence is temporary, expanding rural infrastructure to cater to this phenomenon is not economical. However, this requires operators to deploy solutions to cater, to the extent possible, for the increased traffic.
Mmegi: Many consumers complained that data services provided by different operators were very poor. For example, some would subscribe for a certain social media data package from a mobile operator, but not see pictures on the package or the package is said to have run out without quality access being provided. In general, how does BOCRA monitor the different providers of data in the market to ensure they deliver quality access to consumers on the terms and conditions that have been advertised or marketed?
Nyelesi: BOCRA uses a QoS monitoring system that records performance of networks against parameters set out in the QoS Guidelines. These parameters include Network Availability (NA), Call Set Up Success Rate, Congestion Rate, Call Handover Success Rate, SMS Delivery Success Rate, Drop Call Rate per individual base station as well as a country-wide aggregation for all base stations per operator. Where a base station consistently underperforms, the operator concerned is required to furnish BOCRA with a plan for permanent solution. Where individual subscribers experience differences between what was advertised or marketed and what they receive, they are required to address the matter to the service provider. Where the service provider does not satisfactorily address the matter, the consumer has a right to escalate that matter to BOCRA.
Mmegi: What steps can BOCRA take when operators (licence holders) are consistently failing to provide the required data services at the agreed upon or advertised quality, terms and conditions?
Nyelesi: On a monthly basis, BOCRA shares network performance reports with respective operators, and remedial and/or corrective action follows. The Act also empowers BOCRA to invoke penalties.
Mmegi: Has BOCRA taken any action or conducted investigation into the quality of data services being provided in the market, particularly the quality of the different products being marketed by the mobile phone operators to their consumers?
Nyelesi: Yes, BOCRA has addressed complaints escalated to it and where an operator was found to be in the wrong, BOCRA directed the operator to redress the matter including restoring customer’s data.
Mmegi: Where can consumers find redress when their grievances to these operators appear to be falling on deaf ears and how can they be sure they will be taken seriously?
Nyelesi: In the first instance, complaints are reported to the relevant operator. Where the operator has not satisfactorily addressed the matter, the consumer can escalate the matter to BOCRA.
Where the consumer is not satisfied with BOCRA’s decision, the law provides for the decision to be appealed to the High Court.
Mmegi: As a final aside, is there a limit to the number of messages a mobile phone operator can send to consumers in a day (24-hour period) and if so, what is that limit?
Nyelesi: There is no limit set for the number of SMSes mobile operators can send to consumers in a day. However, consumers have a right to opt out of receiving certain messages or unsubscribe from receiving BULK SMSes.
