MTN, Vodafone assure of network stability … before, during and after crucial polls
The two leading telecom companies in the country, MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana, have given an assurance of network stability before, during and after the election which takes off tomorrow.
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The assurance comes in the wake of public concerns as to whether the operators have the capacity to contain all the customers on their networks should they use their respective networks at the same time.
It is expected that, a majority of the people will be on phone either making calls or sending videos and pictures through social media or chatting as they report events which will unfold during and after voting .
MTN
A statement from MTN Ghana said “MTN has a robust and resilient network to support the telecommunication needs of customers in Ghana.”
“As per our Change Control Policy, our annual end of year freeze for 2016 has kicked off to ensure network stability during the entire month of December 2016”, it added.
MTN said in the event of fibre cuts due to road construction, mining activities as well as other external factors that might cause network disruption, “we wish to assure our valued customers that MTN has put in place technical teams to resolve any network challenges that may arise.”
Vodafone
For its part, Vodafone said “We have put in place an Election preparedness plan to ensure our customers and key stakeholders are protected before, during and after the process. Our commitment to provide our customers with unmatched experience is not in doubt. They can be assured of sustained and quality connectivity throughout the period.”
“Additionally, in our own unique way as a company, we are ensuring that our customers and other stakeholders are properly informed about the elections, using our platform – Vodafone 3-2-1. This is an information sharing service launched earlier this year. It has an elections tab that provides information on the season we are in,” it said.
The company said all that customers needed to do was to dial 3-2-1 and listen to the promptings to know more about the upcoming elections and what they needed to do.
It said customers could also type *321# and get all the information they needed during the elections and afterwards.
Mobile voice subscription as at August
As at the end of August 2016, the total number of mobile voice subscribers had increased to 36,912,019 . This brings the total penetration rate according to the National Communications Authority (NCA) as at the month under review to 132.44 per cent.
The assurance from the two telcos at this time is crucial in view of the high penetration rate which could challenge the technical capacities of the players in the industry.