[May 14, 2013] Telecoms to Be Fined for Poor Services, Says Minister Tweet (AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TELECOMMUNICATION Service providers who provide poor services without explanation to consumers risk a penalty of 5m/- or six months imprisonment, the Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, has said. He told the Parliament here yesterday that the companies on entering the country to invest, usually sign service level agreements, where they should be held accountable in case they provide poor service to customers. He was responding to a question by Temeke MP, Mr Abas Mtemvu (CCM), who cited a failure last year from November 13 at night to November 14 afternoon, when services of a local telecom operating as Tigo stopped without giving any explanation as to what had happened. The MP had wanted to know what explanation the government would give to the public when services are affected without accountability on the part of service providers. In response, the minister admitted that it was indeed true that the telecom had experienced technical problems on that day, where the company's system was overpowered and burnt systems situated at Sabasaba in Dar es Salaam. He said some of the destroyed equipment for the company include the home location register, base station controller, radio network controller and mobile switch centre. He said that the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority had, in three days, formally written to the company asking for explanations on how Tigo had prepared itself to confront such a situation if it happens again, to control inconveniences for consumers. Copyright Tanzania Daily News. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]