Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily East Africa and Central and West Africa, was recently issued a fine of $8.3 million by the Chadian government for failing to meet quality of service requirements.
According to Developing Telecoms, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Post (Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes, ARCEPT) audited Airtel Chad and rival Moov Africa Chad. They discovered that Airtel services in Chad saw a “Noticeable deterioration in quality”.
As of June 2023, the company announced the rollout of its 5G network in three countries starting in Nigeria, followed by Tanzania, and Zambia. In Nigeria, the implementation of 5G was successful in four cities including Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, and Abuja.
The Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Carl Cruz, remarked: “The 5G revolution opens a new vista of opportunities and it is a quantum leap from the existing 4G network.”
This points at Airtel’s commitment to improving its network services throughout Africa.
The audit carried out for Airtel Chad, ensuing an MoU between the regulatory body and telecommunications operators in 2021, the company committed to making a substantial investment towards enhancing development in the country in 3 years.
The establishment of the MoU stemmed from subscriber complaints received by Arcep. A committee was formed to monitor investment impacts on service quality, as part of the agreement.
In 2022, Arcep found that both operators’ service quality fell below expected standards for the year.