Sustainability Performance: At a glance (31 March 2012) - Safaricom

Network stability
capacity expansion, acquiring extra bandwidth,
introducing new technologies and modernising
the network — upgrading radio elements,
core network elements and transforming
the transmission network. This network
modernisation initiative has seen over 95% of
Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) replaced with
modern, high capacity MSCs to date.
• Customer churn
Customer ‘churn’ is when an existing customer
leaves to join another network. The highly
competitive nature of the telecommunications
industry has resulted in significant reductions
in tariffs and, as a result, significant increases
in network traffic. This increase in traffic has
led to network congestion and dropped calls
etc. This congestion, together with network
disruptions due to fiber cuts and power
failures, has hampered service quality and
resulted in customer churn. From a network
stability perspective, the measures taken to
reduce this sub-risk are, essentially, the same
as those taken to mitigate the ‘maintenance’
and ‘coverage’ risks.
• Sub-optimal fiber-optic infrastructure
Safaricom leases fiber-optic infrastructure to
provide the additional capacity required by
the large volumes of data and voice traffic we
handle, but the local fiber network has been
significantly impaired by fiber cuts recently.
Stakeholders with whom we engage
Stakeholder group
Subscribers
Regulator (CCK)
Government (through Ministry of
Information & Communication)
Fiber Providers
Telecommunication Service
Providers
What we engage them on:
While mechanisms are being put in place to
ensure that fiber redundancies protect traffic
loss — including deploying our own fiber
infrastructure — network disruptions caused
by multiple fiber failures remain a major
challenge. In March 2012, for instance, up
to 20% of network unavailability was due to
fiber failures.
As well as spreading the risk across multiple
fiber providers and specifying continuity
in service level agreements, Safaricom is
currently implementing a BCP (Business
Continuity Plan) that will see microwave
backups installed at all major nodes,
providing alternative traffic routes in the
event of a fiber failure. These are already in
place at Tier 1, high-risk locations and Tiers
2 and 3 will be completed in August 2012.
• Vandalism and theft
As already noted, the repeated vandalism
of telecommunications infrastructure often
leads to network instability disruptions. As
a result of engagements with regulators
and stakeholders by Safaricom and other
operators (see Section R1. for further
detail), the Vandalism Bill has been drafted
and is ready to be enacted into law by
Parliament.
Information regarding planned works and network failures is
promptly disseminated to Customer Care for communication to
subscribers.
Engagement with the CCK has taken place regarding the drafting of
the Vandalism Bill and the CCK’s targets (KPIs).
Again, we have liaised with government regarding fees, levies and
the drafting of the Vandalism Bill.
Safaricom leases fibre from fibre-optic providers and engages with
them regarding SLAs and BCPs etc.
Safaricom has agreements with other mobile operators to share
some of its BTSs, and vice versa.
How we performed
The Communications Commission of Kenya
(CCK) is mandated with ensuring the provision
of quality services by licensed mobile service
operators. To meet this objective, the CCK has
developed eight Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) to assess the performance of mobile
operators. Mobile operators are expected to
meet at least 80% (i.e. 7 out of 8) of the targets
set by these KPIs.
The CCK carries out national Quality of Service
(QoS) assessments based on these KPIs, to
determine the level of compliance achieved
by mobile operators. The results of these
assessments are released to the general public
and can also be found on the CCK website.
Subscribers
Speech Quality (MOS, PESQ values) 95% of Samples >2.7
Regulator Handover (CCK) Success Rate 85%
Call Set Up Time