(Agence Ecofin) – Since the start of the year, Chadian consumers have suffered several interruptions in the national telecoms network. The last major outage occurred on October 15 on the Internet network and lasted approximately 24 hours.
The mobile operator Airtel Chad reported an interruption of its voice, SMS and Internet services on the morning of Friday October 25, just ten days after a 24-hour general outage which affected the entire national Internet network. Airtel has announced compensation for impacted subscribers. However, many customers, via social networks, are calling on the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts (ARCEP) to take coercive measures against the operator.
« We reiterate our commitment to ensuring the quality of services and ensure that everything is done to minimize the impact of this outage on users.», simply declared the telecoms regulator in a press release published on Saturday October 26.
Although the cause of the outage has not been explained, it occurs in a context marked by the fragility of Chad’s national telecoms infrastructure. For example, for its international connectivity, this landlocked country essentially depends on Cameroon and Sudan which have direct access to submarine cables. After the outage from October 15 to 16, the Prime Minister, Allah-Maye Halina, suggested to operators to put in place emergency solutions to respect their obligation to guarantee “uninterrupted Internet service 24 hours a day ».
The Prime Minister also instructed the Minister of Communications, the Digital Economy and the Digitization of the Administration to review the services responsible for regulation. “The populations have suffered too much from the neglect and even incestuous relationships between mobile telephones and crooked executives of our administration in the past».
Chadian telecoms consumers hope that sanctions will encourage operators to provide better quality services. According to the Global Association of Telephone Operators (GSMA), good quality of service not only protects the interests of consumers, but also improves the digital experience and creates new opportunities for individuals and the community. This can also allow operators like Airtel Chad to maintain a competitive advantage.
On the national telecoms market, the Chadian subsidiary of Airtel Africa mainly competes with Moov Africa. The Maroc Telecom Group subsidiary reported 6.7 million mobile subscribers in the third quarter of 2024. At the end of September 2023, Moov Africa already claimed a market share of 55% as market leader.
Isaac K. Kassouwi
Also read:
25/10/2024 – Trans-Saharan optical fiber: the EU and the ADB satisfied with the work in Chad
10/22/2024 — Internet cuts in Chad: telecom operators in the government’s sights
