The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has placed two mobile operators on notice for violating the quality of telecoms services on their networks. The two telcos, Airtel and Telkom, were reported to have failed in meeting the minimum 80% threshold on quality of calls across 33 counties in 2020.

According to the CA, Telkom Kenya scored an average mark of 73% while Airtel had 52% in the survey conducted last year. Meanwhile, Safaricom dominated with a 92% overall mark in the survey.

The two telcos that once almost merged have now been placed under watch as the CA says that it will check if the improve the quality of calls this year.

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In its report, CA said, “As Airtel’s and Telkom’s performance did not meet the set target of 80 percent for voice services they were issued notices of non–compliance that require the firms to improve their quality of services in the country in compliance with the set threshold,”

“The Authority is evaluating their performance again in the 2020/2021 assessments for confirmation of compliance with the requested improvement.”

The law requires all telcos operating in the country to follow all requirements on quality calls and avoid service outages as much as possible. Failure to that, the firms will risk a fine of up to 0.2% of their revenues, which could run into hundreds of millions.

The survey indicates that Airtel subscribers in Kajiado, Kiambu, and Narok have been experiencing the highest number of outages and service disruptions during calls. In other counties like Kwale, Laikipia, Nyadarua and Murang’a, the firm scored the lowest (20%) of the three firms.

So there is no doubt that Telkom and Airtel will have lots of work this year to improve their quality of service.