Communications regulatory authority says various measures are being taken to address complaints raised by telecommunications customers
Dar es Salaam. Amid public complaints that telecommunication firms were shortchanging their subscribers in terms of duration of data bundle sizes,
unexplained loss of network, receiving multiple unsubscribed promotion texts, the sector’s regulator outlined yesterday the various measures being undertaken to address consumer grievances and efforts undertaken to boost the cyberspace.Without putting the entire blame on the telecom service providers on the issue of quick depletion of data bundles, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) said that clients must look into several areas that could potentially be depleting their packages without their notice.
The director of Industry Affairs at TCRA, Dr Emmanuel Manase, said that potential data bundle drainers include the increase of network speed, quality of phone, upgraded video and picture quality in new model phones, and unknown running applications.
“It is true there have been a lot of complaints about the duration of data bundle sizes, but what makes data to finish fast is the increase of network speed from 3G to 4G, and some applications that are left operating without knowing,” he said. This sentiment was echoed by the authority’s customer and consumer affairs manager, Mr Thadayo Ringo, who advised mobile users to read their gadgets’ manuals for proper orientation. “This is especially important for those who buy new phones,” he said.
The remarks were made during a meeting with members of the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF). The meeting focused on exchanging views and having a common understanding of issues related to communications.
“In order to reduce complaints from the public, the authority has directed all mobile operators to come up with applications that allow customers to monitor data bundle usage on their phones,” said Dr Manase, adding that the authority is in the final stages of rolling out its own application aimed at performing the same monitoring function.
“Before the end of next month (March), TCRA will introduce another application that will allow customers to see the usage of data bundles,” he said, revealing that it was currently on trial.
On the issue of unexplained loss of network by telecom service providers, Dr Manase attributed the challenge to the current trend of disproportionality between number of customers being subscribed to networks and the amount of investment injected into improving network infrastructure. “Mobile network service providers are taking on board many customers, but don’t invest adequately in infrastructural development,” he explained.
Dr Manase, however, admitted that the cost of investing in the communications industry was very high due to the fact that the equipment has to be imported.
The TCRA director general, Dr Jabiri Bakari, for his part, provided context on the milestones the communications sector has recorded over the past few years despite the noticeable challenges. For example, he said that since 2015 prices of data bundles have been steadily dropping to the current average of $0.75 for Tanzanians to browse the web, ranking it sixth in Africa on the scale of cheap internet prices.
“With such low prices, our plan is to channel most of the services online as we aim to boost the drive for a digital economy,” Dr Bakari said, adding that TCRA’s plan is to create a more sustainable cyberspace to help the sector grow.
This vision by the TCRA director general underscores what deputy minister for Information, Communications and Information Technology, Mr Andrea Kundo, made public recently on how the government is investing more in ICT infrastructure in order to make service delivery cheaper for telecom companies. This includes investing in the National Fibre Optic Cable Network popularly known as the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB). “We believe such efforts will relieve service providers of some costs,” Mr Kundo said.
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