By ; Bakinam Khaled
In line with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (NTRA) strategy to support the user rights and ensure high-quality services in Egypt’s market, NTRA issued its first semi-annual report on telecom user complaints for the period between January and June 2022.
The report presents the most important indicators with respect to landline, mobile, fixed internet and mobile set complaints.
It also presents the rate and time of response to such complaints post escalation to NTRA.
NTRA actually receives telecom-user complaints regarding operators via call center on (155). In Addition, it has recently provided new e-channels to facilitate communication with users as well as to deliver non-traditional channels for complaints; such as, MyNTRA App, NTRA’s website, e-mail address as well as instant messaging apps like WhatsApp. Therefore, 143 235 complaints were received during the first half-year period of 2022 as a result of such procedures.
Operators’ response rate to complaints during the same period reached 89%, whereas response time was 1.7 days in average.
The following figures are actually presented being the most important information conveyed by the first semi-annual report:
• 143 235 complaints were escalated to NTRA regarding telecom operators including; 64 126 mobile complaints by 45%, 42 486 fixed internet complaints by 30%, 34 686 landline complaints by 24% and 1937 mobile set complaints by 1%.
• 85% of complaints was received via call center (155), whereas 12% of complaints were registered on MyNTRA. It is worth noting that 2% of complaints was raised via website and 1% via WhatsApp.
• 44% of complaints was received in Greater Cairo and 27% in Delta. Meanwhile, 17% of complaints was raised by users in Upper Egypt, 9% in Alexandria and 3% in the Suez Canal cities.
Complaints regarding mobile set, mobile service, fixed internet service as well as landline service are presented in details as follow:
First: Mobile set complaints
The overall number of complaints escalated by mobile set owners to NTRA regarding dealerships was 1937 during the first half-year period of 2022. Meanwhile, the rate of complaint-resolving reached 94% with an average time of 4.7 days. Most importantly, complaints were raised regarding poor technical support by 48%, Rejection of mobile-set exchange by 31%, maintenance issues by 13% and re-occurrence of problem post repair by 8%. On the other hand, average time taken for resolving complaints per dealership was as follow; Safi by 3.6, I2 by 4.5, Ro’ya by 4.6, Raya by 5, Sky by 5.5 days.
Secondly, mobile-user complaints against operators:
Number of mobile complaints was 66/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 92% and the average response time had been 0.72 days.
• Vodafone: Number of complaints escalated against Vodafone was 64/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate and the average response time scored 93% and 0.19 days respectively, post escalation. Most of these complaints were about mobile wallets by 21%, billing and credit service by 18%, service-disconnection by 14%, Mobile Number Portability Service (MNP) by 13%, and customer service by 6%.
• Orange: 77 complaints/ 100 thousand subscribers were escalated against Orange, whereas response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 90%. Average response time had also been 1.7 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about billing and credit service by 21%, MNP service by 15%, service-disconnection by 11%, mobile wallets by 11% and subscription to entertainment services without notification by 10%.
• Etisalat: Number of complaints escalated against Etisalat was 57/ 100 thousand subscribers. The rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 93% and the average response rate had been 0.35 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about MNP service by 26%, service-disconnection by 19%, billing and credit services by 16%, mobile wallets by 10% and service quality by 5%.
• WE: Number of complaints escalated against WE was 58/ 100 thousand subscribers. Meanwhile, the rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 95% and the average time of response had been 0.35 days. Moreover, most of these complaints were about MNP service by 19%, service disconnection by 19%, billing and credit service by 17%, mobile wallets by 10%, and customer service by 8%.
Thirdly, fixed internet-user complaints against operators:
Number of fixed internet complaints was 442/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 94% and the average response time had been 2.07 days.
• Vodafone: Number of complaints escalated against Vodafone was 755/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate and the average response time scored 98% and 0.21 days respectively, post escalation. Most of these complaints were about line reserved without notification by 30%, service quality by 29%, inability to cancel subscription by 9%, customer service by 9% and billing as well as credit service by 4%.
• Orange: Number of complaints escalated against Orange was 1219 complaints/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 98%. Average response time had also been 0.29 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about service quality by 42%, line reserved without notification by 22%, inability to cancel subscription by 8%, billing and credit service by 7%, and customer service by 5%.
• Etisalat: Number of complaints escalated against Etisalat was 825/ 100 thousand subscribers. The rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 93% and the average response rate had been 0.24 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about service quality by 35%, line reserved without notification by 22%, billing and credit service by 9%, inability to cancel subscription by 7% and customer service by 7%.
• WE: Number of complaints escalated against WE was 345/ 100 thousand subscribers. Meanwhile, the rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 94% and the average time of response had been 3.09 days. Moreover, most of these complaints were about service quality by 76%, customer service by 8%, billing and credit service by 4%, line reserved without notification by 2% and inability to cancel subscription by 2%.
Fourthly: Landline- user complaints:
Landline complaints scored a number of 295/100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 77% with an average response time of 2.75 days. Landline complaints were most importantly about breakdowns by 70%, delayed activation of service by 10%, service quality by 10%, customer service by 4% and billing as well as credit service by 2%. Furthermore, complaints were geographically distributed as follow: 47% in Greater Cairo, 28% in Delta, 16% in Upper Egypt, 7% in Alexandria and 2% in the Suez Canal area.
Cash amounts refunded to users post entitlement by NTRA
Users received a refund of EGP 3.8 million from operators after they had been deemed entitled to by NTRA. The lion share of refunds was for billing/credit complaints by 89%, with Vodafone at the top in terms of the money refunded to complainants by 54%, during the first-half period of 2022.
Measures taken by NTRA to uphold user rights:
1. Rules and regulations of Value Added Service (VAS) were activated, service providers were obliged to send activation codes
Rules and regulations of VAS were activated so as to ensure that customers are not enforced to subscribe to such service. Moreover, service providers were obliged to send service request activation and confirmation codes in addition to SMS about how to cancel such services as well as service data; service name and cost.
2. Capacity of complaint center was maximized by 35% during the first-half year period of 2022
The capacity of complaint-receiving center, via (155), was maximized by NTRA by 35% during the first-half year period of 2022 in comparison to the second-half year period of 2021. This step had been actually taken to make it much easier for customers to contact the center, as well as to provide a rapid follow up with customers and investigate complaints with operators once escalated.
3. Fines of EGP 11.2 million were imposed on mobile operators during the first-half year period of 2022
11.2 million pound-fines were imposed by NTRA on mobile operators during the first-half year period of 2022 for violating the standards of complaint-response.
