Improve service or we will be forced to scrap operating licence: NTA to telcos

KATHMANDU, JAN 13 -

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has said it will ‘ultimately’ be forced to scrap operating licences of telecom operators that fail to provide quality service to consumers as per the government-set standards.

The telecom regulator said despite their repeated commitments, operators failed to improve their quality of service (QoS) in the last four years.

A recent opinion survey or performance test on service quality carried out by NTA showed that all three major telecom operators—Nepal Telecom, Ncell and United Telecom Limited (UTL)—have failed to provide quality voice service. Based on the study’s findings, the regulator last Sunday directed them to improve their service within six months. “We have given operators six months to improve their services,” said Ananda Raj Khanal, technical director at NTA, at a press conference held here on Thursday to make public the

study result. The directive is an opportunity for operators to improve their services, but if they do not abide by the directive, the regulator will ‘ultimately’ be forced to scrap their licenses base as per the Telecommunications Act 1997, he added.

NTA hired Brazen Consultant, an engineering firm, to conduct the survey in four major cities—Kathmandu, Pokhara, Biratnagar and Nepalgung—in July-September 2011. According to the survey, telecom service quality has not improved compared 2007 when a similar study was conducted, the service is ‘bad’ in most places, and operators failed to meet the benchmarks. During the survey, calls were generated from general handsets for sampling in each city.

Consumers’ perception regarding service quality is ‘bad’ in all cities, except Ncell’s ‘so-so’ service in Biratnagar, according to the survey. Nepal Telecom’s GSM mobile’s network performance is ‘bad’ in Kathmandu, ‘normal’ in Pokhara and ‘so-so’ in Birantnagar and Nepalgunj. Ncell has ‘normal’ service quality in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Biratnagar and ‘so-so’ in Nepalgunj. Likewise, UTL’s service quality is ‘normal’ in Kathmandu and Nepalgunj, but ‘so-so’ in Pokhara and Biratnagar.

At the programme, Ncell CEO Pasi Koistinen, however, said a small sampling cannot show the actual service quality situation. “We conduct quality tests of all our customers every quarter using highly sophisticated tools and our tests show we exceed the service quality benchmark,” he added.

Nepal Telecom Deputy Managing Director Bhagat Man Singh said the company could not improve its service quality due to its delay in decision making.

Keshav Gyawali, a technical representative from UTL, said their service is not as poor as mentioned in the report.

GSM mobile, fixed line, CDMA, wireless loop line and limited mobility services were studied based on the ‘Rapid Assessment Process Guideline for Opinion Survey and Performance Test Mobile Service’ prepared by the Centre for Economic Development and Administration. And, the parameters were call setup success rate‚ service access delay‚ call drop rate, point of interconnection congestion and call quality.

Source: Kantipur