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{
    "id": 1488550,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1488550/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 181,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bomachoge Chache, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Alfah Miruka",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. We will do as guided by your office. We will invite the Member together with the Ministry so that we discuss it further. Let us move to the second Statement which was sought by Hon. Dorice Donya. Her first question was on the measures that are in place to ensure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Safaricom, Telecom and Airtel, compensate their customers adequately during prolonged internet outages. The response is that ISPs fall under the Application Service Provider licence category implemented by the Communication Authority. The Authority has licensed over 500 application service providers required to provide quality service, devoid of service interruptions. The licensed entities are required to put in place measures that will ensure continued uptime of their services, high availability and reliability of internet service and customer complaint handling mechanism. Whereas the current regulatory framework does not prescribe specific compensation in case of service outages, the service providers provide for different levels of compensation to their customers. These include: wireless data bundles, when affected by fibre to home internet service downtime; data bundle period extension for period of unavailability; no charge for post-paid customers for period of unavailability and apologies communicated through various communication channels. That was the first question. The second question was to clarify on the implementation of the broad-band compensation and the rebates by internet service providers for their customers in the event of service disruptions. The response is that the interruptions during planned activities, system upgrade or maintenance, licensees are required to notify the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and their customers seven days before such a downtime. These activities are also expected to be carried out during lowest period of tariff volumes. For unforeseen outages, licensees are required to inform the CA of the occurrence within 24 hours and outline the measures they have undertaken to ensure minimum disruptions of service to customers. The CA also handles customers’ complaints on case by case basis. Question three required us to outline the steps taken by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy to enhance accountability in internet service providers (ISPs) and protect the rights of customers especially in light of increasing dependence on internet services. The response is that CA, has established a framework for assessment of Quality of Services (QoS) of telecommunication service systems that cover end-to-end QoS services, parameters for voice, SMS and data. Currently, Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom are assessed on an annual basis. The mobile network operators that fail to meet the minimum standard of 80 per cent QoS performance, is issued with a notice of violation. Failure to address may lead to penalty of up to 0.4 per cent of the mobile network annual turnover. The framework is currently under review in order to enhance accountability of the ISPs."
}