South Africa’s three leading mobile operators have failed the first Independent Communications of South Africa’s (ICASA) quality report in two years.
ICASA had come under increasing pressure to restart its quarterly quality of service (QoS) reports from consumers after a lack of cooperation led to them being halted in 2011.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C had their networks tested in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, using the TEMS network testing standard.
The setting up and maintenance of voice calls was the primary focus of the tests with the “call setup success rate (CSSR)” and the “dropped call rate (DCR)” being assessed.
The results showed Vodacom missing the CSSR target in the Eastern Cape. Cell C and MTN did not perform well in CSSR in the Western Cape.
In KwaZulu-Natal, neither Cell C or Vodacom passed the DCR targets.
ICASA said: “The purpose of publishing these reports is to identify shortcomings in the services offered by the three major mobile operators, and thereby promote redress in the public interest.
“It is hoped that, in future, when the authority has a more substantial budget and requisite monitoring equipment, it will be able to provide a full view of consumer experience of the services offered by mobile operators and thereafter refer matters of non-compliance to the Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC).”
Telkom Mobile and 8ta were not included in the latest report, but ICASA is expecting to add them once their network coverage increases.
