Indian telcos offer best County voice services
Indian majority-owned telcos beat Safaricom in City voice quality, according to a Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) survey.
Despite its overall quality countrywide falling for two consecutive years, Airtel registered 87.5 per cent performance in Nairobi.
However at the Coast, it registered 75 per cent and 50 in Western, Nyanza and Eastern.
Essar Telecom equaled Airtel in Nairobi. At the Coast and Eastern regions it also scored 87.5 per cent.
“Average performance in Central, Western, Nyanza and Nairobi outskirts (Thika, Limuru, Kiambu, Utawala and Ngong including the new bypass roads) was 62.5 per cent each,” CCK said of Essar.
Specifics for Telkom Kenya, the only one said to have complied overall, in Nairobi were not revealed.
Parameters used included voice clarity and speech quality.
Safaricom, the largest telco in the region, was gauged much lower in quality in Nairobi. It recorded 50 per cent in the county and the surroundings but fared better elsewhere.
“The best performance by Safaricom was in Coast and Eastern at 75 per cent followed by 50 per cent in Nairobi and its outskirts. The worst performance was registered in Rift Valley, Central, Western and Nyanza regions where it scored 37.5 per cent,” said the report.
Overall, the firms fell below CCK targets.
“Essar and Celtel complied with Completed Calls in Nairobi but Safaricom and Telkom failed to meet the target,” said the regulator.
Operators have in the past contested the CCK measurements by CCK though.