Nairobi, Kenya
Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has urged the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) not to rush into implementation of the reduced mobile termination rates (MTR) to enable telecom operators offer affordable rates on all type of call charges.
The lobby group has cited mistakes in the plan which needs to be addressing before consumers start enjoying inter-network calls at reduced charges. COFEK Secretary General Stephen Mutoro said that mobile phone operators in the country may use the government regulation to provide unsustainable services in protest of the directive.
While addressing the media at Panafric Hotel, Mutoro said that the initial stages undertaken to oversee the process were not promising to Kenyans in terms of quality of service as well as sustainability.
He added that the four operators in the Kenyan market are experiencing lagging in terms of calls and the MTR can affect this further, considering that there are recurrent network hiccups in the country.
“If nowadays one can wait for a short message to be delivered for like a day in the networks, what will the MTR do to the country? What will be the sustainability level of the services? Aren’t the same operators going to shift the burden on the consumers?” posed Mutoro to journalists.
According to Mutoro, some mobile operators doubt the process and the parameters used in coming up with the MTR services, and he, after consultation with other stakeholders, urge CCK to delay the process, until the operators sign a memorandum with the government not to tamper with the quality of the service as well as reliability of the service in the long run.
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