Safaricom, CCK clash over licence renewal terms

Mr Bob Collymore: CCK can adopt modern and collaborative methods. FILE  Nation Media Group

By OKUTTAH MARK, mokuttah@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted  Monday, January 6  2014 at  00:00

In Summary

• The CCK has tied the renewal of Safaricom’s licence, which is due before June, to paying Sh2.3 billion and achieving the minimum quality standards.
• The CCK found all the four mobile phone operators, including Airtel, Orange and Yu failed to meet minimum quality of service standards in the year to June.
• This is worse verdict than the previous period from an industry perspective given in the year to June 2012 the smaller operators, Orange and Yu, were compliant.

Safaricom is headed for a clash with the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) ahead of its licence renewal over voice quality standards.

The regulator has labelled Safaricom a non-compliant operator in the year to June with a performance score of 50 per cent against the minimum target of 80 per cent on eight indicators in a report to be released this week.

The CCK has tied the renewal of Safaricom’s licence, which is due before June, to paying Sh2.3 billion and achieving the minimum quality standards — which has drawn protests from the Nairobi bourse listed telecom operator.

“Our view is that punitive measures will not assist the industry to achieve better QoS (Quality of Service) measures as they will divert resources from operators which could have been applied to improving coverage and network quality,” says Bob Collymore, the CEO of Safaricom in a statement.

“We believe that CCK can adopt a modern and collaborative methodology which will allow the operators to respond quickly and ensure customers have a good experience.”

The CCK found all the four mobile phone operators, including Airtel, Orange and Yu failed to meet minimum quality of service standards in the year to June.

This is worse verdict than the previous period from an industry perspective given in the year to June 2012 the smaller operators, Orange and Yu, were compliant.

Safaricom, Airtel and yuMobile tied on a score of 50 per cent in the year to June while Telkom Kenya had a 62.5 per cent mark.

READ: CCK asks Safaricom to pay Sh2.3b for licence renewal

In 2012, Safaricom had the worst score of 50 per cent while Airtel was rated at 62.5 per cent. Telkom and Essar both achieved 87.5 per cent.

CCK attributed the drop in performance to the enhancement of the weight of the eight indicators including speech quality, completed calls, call success rates and call drop rate.

“The current assessment framework uses the enhanced KPIs that were applicable three years after the adoption of the framework,” says CCK.

Safaricom has questioned the CCK’s indicators, terming them erroneous, adding that an independent report based on international benchmarks has given it a clean bill of health.

READ: Safaricom fights CCK over voice quality checks

The conflicting positions are set to play out when the regulator and Safaricom meet in coming weeks for talks over the license renewal.