NCA rescinds Vodafone’s ban

The National Communication Authority (NCA) has rescinded the ban imposed on Vodafone Ghana’s sales and marketing activities.

The NCA says it is satisfied with steps undertaken by the mobile network operator to resolve challenges on its network following last month’s nationwide network outage, which left many customers unable to make and receive calls, send text messages and browse the Internet.

On June 6, 2014, the Authority imposed 55-day ban on Vodafone Ghana, restricting the operator from acquiring new subscribers, sale of New SIM Cards, porting subscribers from other networks to Vodafone, introduction of new services, promotions, offers and from all marketing communications.

The network was also directed to compensate consumers.

According to the NCA, the ban, which was to last until the midnight of July 31, 2014 has been rescinded as Vodafone has met all the conditions required to guarantee quality of service provisions.

“Vodafone has been able to meet the conditions put in place by the Authority to ensure quality delivery of service. As part of conditions required for lifting the ban, the network was to investigate and rectify all issues on their core network following which the Authority would conduct series of tests. This included implementing a permanent fix on their Recharge Platform and ensuring that identified defective equipment were replaced.

“Following various actions taken by Vodafone and reported to the Authority, NCA has since conducted series of verification tests on the network between June 25, 2014 and July 6, 2014 regarding the remedial measures on the outage that occurred on 3rd June, 2014.

“The verification tests have proved that Vodafone Ghana has met all the requirements to ensure network stability and consumer satisfaction.

“As a result, the Authority has lifted the ban,” the NCA said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The NCA explained that the principal objective of the ban was to ensure that Vodafone Ghana puts in place measures to ensure quality and consistent service delivery, and not meant to be punitive.

It said Vodafone has also been advised to ensure that they conduct regular monitoring and maintenance of the network to prevent outages which affect consumer satisfaction and to prevent such an incidence from re?occurring.