Kenyan legislator challenges CCK on standards

Karachuonyo member of Parliament James Rege has challenged the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to strictly monitor the quality of services provided by mobile phone companies.

The call completion rate and call drop rate is very high in Kenya, and CCK should monitor the mobile phone service providers to ensure the consumer gets what is paid for, Rege told an ICT multi-stakeholder forum.

Call completion rate is an automatically generated statistical value that refers to the percentage of calls that are answered. Call drop rate refers to silence gaps within a call.

"With the rapid expansion of the communications industry, customers have increased their requirements. The service quality, the degree of standardization and the speed of response to questions must all be on a very high level," Rege said. "Econet Wireless and Orange will enter the market by end of this year; they must meet the strict requirements by the regulator."

It is necessary to set standards that every provider agrees to at the time of receiving an operating license, and carriers must keep network connection completion rates and call completion rates at high levels, said Brian Logwe, chairman of the Kenya ICT Action Network, the forum conveners.

The newly appointed CCK director general, Charles Njoroge, responded with a promise to improve services offered by the regulator and invited ICT industry players to share their opinions on the services offered. The CCK is ready to address issues of access and affordability, he added.

To effectively regulate the industry, the government will publish a gazette notice for the new communication market structure that will reflect the converged environment and the unified license, said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The ministry is revamping its Web site to include an interactive blog where the public can post questions and complaints. If successful, all other ministry Web sites will be required to have interactive blogs, said Ndemo.