“Ghanaians Must Get the Service They Pay For” — NCA Director-General
The Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, has issued a strong and unequivocal warning to telecom operators, insisting that consumers must receive full value for the services they pay for amid growing concerns over network quality and coverage.
Speaking at an industry engagement, he identified Quality of Service (QoS) and coverage gaps as the most urgent and persistent challenges facing Ghana’s telecommunications sector today.
“To put the single issue on the table, this authority must speak honestly this morning: it is quality of service and coverage,” he stated.
Across the country, he noted, consumers are increasingly vocal about poor service delivery, citing dropped calls, slow data speeds, and inconsistent coverage, particularly outside major urban centres.
“The public is telling us in growing numbers and increasingly clear terms that the service they are paying for is not the service they are receiving,” he said.
He warned that despite reported national coverage levels exceeding 95 per cent in some cases, large portions of peri-urban and rural communities still experience little to no usable connectivity.
According to him, this growing disconnect between coverage statistics and real user experience is now the most consistent complaint received by the regulator and represents a serious threat to public trust in the sector.
“This is the single biggest threat to the trust our industry has spent 30 years building,” he cautioned.
Reinforcing the regulator’s position, Fianko made a firm declaration on consumer rights in the telecom space.
“So let me state the authority’s position clearly: the service Ghanaians pay for must be the service they receive,” he said, repeating the statement for emphasis.
He stressed that closing the coverage gap, particularly in peri-urban and rural communities, remains the most important priority for the sector going forward.
Outlining measures already underway, the NCA boss said the authority has tightened quality of service benchmarks and is moving to increase transparency in network performance.
He announced that the regulator will begin publishing operator-by-operator performance data, allowing the public to independently assess service quality across networks.
“We will publish performance data so that the public can see, network by network, how each operator is performing against its obligations,” he said.
He further indicated that enforcement action will be applied where necessary, while a nationwide consumer education campaign will be rolled out to help users better understand service standards and hold operators accountable.
Fianko revealed that earlier this year, the NCA instructed mobile network operators to present detailed assessments of declining service quality and provide clear remediation plans.
He said those submissions have been received and reviewed, with the regulator satisfied that operators have outlined credible strategies to address challenges.
These include capacity expansion, new site deployment, transmission upgrades, improved power reliability, infrastructure relocation, and the introduction of advanced technologies to strengthen network resilience.
While acknowledging industry efforts, the NCA Director-General maintained that commitments alone are not enough without measurable improvements experienced by consumers.
He reaffirmed that the regulator will continue to hold the sector accountable, ensuring that expansion efforts translate into real improvements in everyday connectivity.
“The service Ghanaians pay for must be the service they receive,” he reiterated, underscoring the authority’s firm stance on consumer protection and service quality enforcement.
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