admin's picture
QCell & Africell rivalry leaves Sierra Leone mobile phone subscribers in limbo

  • Maxwell Massaquoi, NATCOM boss

By Hajaratu Kalokoh

Subscribers of rival mobile operators Q-Cell and Africell have been left in limbo amidst an apparent silent war between them.

Many subscribers say they have to try multiple times to make cross calls between the networks. But most of the complaints is that it’s difficult to call from a Q-Cell line to an Africell line.

Patrick Kamara, a Q-Cell subscriber, was surprised when his wife told him she couldn’t connect through when she called him from her Africell line to his Q Cell line, even though his phone was on.

When Patrick used his Q-Cell and made a call to her Africell line, it went through.

“Sometimes you will dial a particular number and you will hear them telling you that the phone is switched off. It is possible that the phone is switch off or that individual is not within the network coverage. So how could I tell this is a disconnected call? I only realized that today when my wife called me with an Orange number and told me that Africell is not entertaining cross calls to Q Cell,” Patrick told Politico.

Q-Cell and Africell are two among four mobile companies operating in the country. Q-Cell, a Gambian owned telecommunications operator, entered the market in January this year. It entered the market with low pricing strategy on voice calls and data as a key marketing strategy.

Africell, a subsidiary of the Lebanon based Lintel Holdings, was first established in Gambia in 2001 and commenced operations in Sierra Leone in 2005.

Patrick Conteh, who subscribes to both networks, has faced the challenge from both companies firsthand.

“I am using all three networks (Africell, Orange and Q-Cell), whenever I want to make cross call to Africell (from Q-Cell), most times it is unreachable even when the phone is on. About two weeks ago I called Q-Cell customer care on that issue and the customer care agent told me Africell had blocked Q-Cell,” he narrated.

He added: “But whenever I use Africell to cross call to Q-Cell there is no network problem.”

Politico contacted Africell, the Head of Media at the company, John Konteh said the problem is not on their side.

“The problem of disconnected calls for now might be a problem on their side but we don’t have any problem. The companies have mutual benefit. A call from Q-Cell to Africell; there is an interconnection fee, The company will pay the bill. So why will you want to disconnect the other?” Konteh said.

But Q-Cell said that is not the case. Chief Operations Officer, Ibrahima Jah, said Africell has not given them enough lines and this has affected call traffic between both networks.

“We requested to Africell to open more lines. There was a delay; it has been more than two to three months now. We contacted NATCOM and they wrote to Africell and requested we have a meeting to increase four lines which allows the traffic to go through. Up till date we only have two lines. Initially we requested for eight,” he said.

NATCOM [National Telecommunication Commission] regulates the activities of the telecommunication operators in the country. Its Director of Cooperate & Industry Affairs, Abdul Ben Foday, told Politico that they haven’t received complaints from Q-Cell yet regarding the issue. He however blamed the problem on congestion on the networks.

“What we know is that when Q -Cell approached Africell they should be able to interconnect and they (Africell) gave two E- ones. E-ones are trunks through which the mobile calls from Q-Cell to Africell will be terminated. But we understand that there is some congestion. This will only be solved if more E-ones are given from Africell to Q-Cell,” he explained.

Foday added, “if you want more E-ones to be given from Africell to Q-Cell, then it is incumbent upon Q-Cell to do a letter to NATCOM so that NATCOM will instruct Africell to give out more E-ones to them, so that the congestion which the customers are facing in peak times, maybe early in the morning or early in the evening, will be resolved.”

© 2019 Politico Online

Category: 
Top