NCA sets sight on domestic roaming

Communications Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah says the mobile telephony regulator will be compelled to enforce a domestic roaming policy if telecoms operators are not able to improve on their quality of service delivery.

The Minister, speaking at the opening International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Quality of Service Development Group Meeting in Accra said: “The National Communications Authority (NCA) in its mandate to ensure consumer protection as well as enforcement of compliance to licence obligations has been compelled to invoke penalties on the service providers, as well as insist on compensation measures, in response to public outcry about deteriorating quality of service and quality of experience.

“I have also indicated ‘Domestic Roaming’ as a policy of last resort should the expectant measures fail to yield the needed results,” he said.

Domestic roaming is defined as the ability for a cellular customer to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services, including home data services, when travelling outside the geographical coverage area of the home network, by means of using a visited network.

According to Dr. Omane Boamah, the NCA has been directed to intensify its conduct of quality of service tests and publish the results to be sourced by the media for public dissemination and discussions. “This will serve as a useful guide to subscribers when deciding which mobile telephone operator they should engage depending on his/her permanent place of work and/or abode,” he added.

The industry’s average Call Setup Time has improved from 11.44 seconds in 2010 to 9.5 seconds in 2012. The industry average on Call Congestion also improved from 6% in 2010 to 0.2% in 2012. The industry average on Call Drop Rate saw also a significant improvement from 4% in 2010 to 0.89% in 2012.

The 30th Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) meeting under ITU-T Study Group 12 will inform delegates drawn from around the world of the need to uphold high quality of service and customer experience to provide value for money in communications services.

“The phenomenal increase in mobile telephony penetration in Ghana, and the availability of broadband infrastructure and 4th Generation technology for the expansion of the Internet, has also brought about some bad experiences using the various services on some networks,” Dr. Omane Boamah said.

The theme of the 5-day meeting is “Ensure Customer Satisfaction by providing Quality of Service & Quality of Experience in traditional and new converged ICT networks & services”.

The QSDG develops standards to improve the quality of telecoms services globally through wide participation by ICT stakeholders including policy-makers, regulators, operators, academics, equipment manufacturers and vendors.

More than 60 participants from Africa and elsewhere are expected at the event, which is being held in collaboration with the Southern Africa Telecommunications Association (SATA) and the National Communications Authority (NCA), Ghana’s industry regulator.