Communications Commission of Kenya will soon start auditing quality of non-voice services to consumers.
This will be in addition to voice services which have been tracked since 2008.
The regulator is seeking consultants to advise on a comprehensible and effective quality of service(QoS) measurement and monitoring regime to measure, analyse and report quality of texts, data and social media services, it announced yesterday.
The CCK said taste of ICT consumers was increasingly evolving to non-voice to an extent that “the relevance of existing voice parameters will cease to be of much value” to them.
“This has led to the need to undertake QoS measurements geared towards determining …performance as well as experience” related to the non-voice services, it said in an expression of interest notice.
For the year ending June 2013, use of texts grew by 208 per cent to 13 billion messages, internet subscriptions rose 61 per cent to 12.9 million while voice traffic went up by a marginal 6.8 per cent to about 28.9 billion minutes, according to the latest industry data.
The successful bidder will be tasked with developing a framework and methodology to be used in undertaking QoS measurements including inspection of communications licensees and ICT installations.
The framework will also guide inspection visits, measure installation parameters, analyse the data collected and prepare reports.
The consultant will further develop a criteria to identify firms to be contracted by the CCK to conduct the audits.
By CONSTANT MUNDA, The Star
