CCK penalises Safaricom over network quality

By Macharia Kamau

Nairobi, Kenya: Safaricom was last year required to pay a Sh500,000 fine by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) because of poor network quality.

The company failed to meet standards set by the industry regulator on aspects such as call completion, rate of dropped calls and the quality of speech during a call.

In its sustainability report for the financial year ended March 2013 on the non-financial aspects of its business, the telco also said it took action against some of its employees – including firing – for fraud related cases. 

The firm fired 33 of its employees, reported 28 to law enforcement agencies and issued warning letters to seven for fraud related cases.

It also said it had trained 60 per cent of what it termed ‘high risk staff’ in ethics.

The Safaricom Sustainability Report 2013 reports on different aspects of the telco’s operations that are not covered in its financial reports. These include network quality, innovation, energy security, ethics and values as well as environmental performance.

Chief executive, Bob Collymore said Safaricom is not just about registering positive financial performance, but from a strategic perspective recognises that sustainability continues to be a symbol of its common commitment to shared future.

Governance and values

“Businesses can no longer thrive without due consideration of issues such as governance and values, innovation and climate change,” he said.

Collymore said among the achievements the firm has registered since it launched the Sustainability Agenda, is deepening financial inclusion through the launch of M-Shwari. He said M-Shwari now has over 1.2 million customers.

The firm – and indeed other telecommunication companies – has in the recent years been under pressure from CCK to better their quality of service. The ICT industry regulator has in the recent past even threatened not to renew licences due to poor network quality.