No serious network problems, says mobile providers
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C have been ordered by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to explain the numerous complaints about dropped calls, poor network availability and delayed SMS delivery.
According to ICASA spokesperson Sekgoela Sekgoela the three main cellular operators had to explain what the root cause was for these problems and what can be done to improve the situation. “Our mandate is to promote and protect consumer interests. If they are getting a raw deal, we will be concerned,” said Sekgoela.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C appeared before ICASA yesterday, discussing the situation with the ICASA council. Statements by Vodacom and Cell C however indicate that there are no serious problems in terms of network stability and availability.
Vodacom said that “a constructive meeting was held with ICASA where Vodacom’s management team, lead by MD Shameel Joosub, assured ICASA that the Vodacom network is not experiencing extraordinary issues at present.”
“ICASA was furthermore assured that Vodacom places the highest priority on Network Quality and takes cognisance of customer complaints in this regard,” said Dot Field, Chief Communications Officer at Vodacom.
Cell C indicated that it occasionally experiences issues like dropped calls, busy network signals and delayed SMS delivery, but that this is not out of the ordinary when it comes to running a mobile network.
“All mobile networks around the world experience varying volumes of dropped calls and communications interruptions, due to the nature of wireless telephony – where there is no fixed link and customers move around the network using multiple towers during the course of a call,” says Cell C.
MTN was asked for comment about the stability of its network and whether it has experienced a significant increase in dropped calls, but the cellular operator did not provide any feedback by the time of publication.
Have you experienced cellular network problems recently?
Loading ...