NTRA mandates EGP 2 mn in penalties for Egypt’s telecoms following complaints: The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has mandated that all four telecoms reimburse users a combined total of EGP 2 mn over service failures that took place during 1H2021. Those who phoned in to the authority will receive a sum based on the type of complaint. Orange will kick in 65% of the refunds owed, while Vodafone is responsible for 23%, Etisalat 10% and Telecom Egypt (We) 2%.

The complaints about poor service were staggering: Subscribers made nearly 118k complaints in 1H2021 to the NTRA on its hotline (#155) or through WhatsApp or other open channels. Network operators responded to 92% of all complaints and had an average response time of two days, the NTRA said in its first ever semi-annual report, which breaks down user complaints about telecom services during the six months ending June 2021.

What were people complaining about? It comes as no surprise that over half of the complaints were about ADSL services at 52%, followed by mobile services at 31% and home phones at 17%.

ADSL complaints by provider: Orange had the most complaints out of Egypt’s four service providers, at a rate of 3,424 complaints per 100k subscribers. The top three issues brought to the NTRA were the inability to cancel subscription (41%), line suspension without customer knowledge (33%), and the quality of service (14%). Next up was Etisalat with 2,413 complaints per 100k subscribers, with 51% of users complaining about the inability to cancel a subscription, 34% of sudden line suspensions, and 7% of service quality. Meanwhile, Vodafone had a rate of complaints of 1,274 per 100k subscribers with the main issue being the inability to cancel a subscription, and We came in last with 284 complaints per 100k subscribers with the main issue being the quality of service.

We and Orange tied for the highest rate of complaints over mobile services, followed by Vodafone and then Etisalat. For people calling in about home phone lines — which are only provided by state-owned WE — the complaint was mostly about the line being out of service (67%).

Other measures NTRA is taking to ensure service: ADSL providers will update their subscription system starting October 2021 to ensure that customer requests are approved within a week. ADSL providers shall also notify users through an SMS when they consume 50%, 75%, and 100% of their bundle to enable them to keep track of their consumption. The NTRA will also launch a service targeting deaf users by allowing them to send in requests through the use of video conferencing technology.

You can check out the infographic here (pdf) or read the press release.