NCA to compensate subscribers over network outages

Ghana’s telecommunications regulator is preparing a compensation scheme for mobile phone and broadband subscribers who lose service through faults beyond their control.

Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George announced the plan at a press briefing in Accra on Monday. He said he had tasked the National Communications Authority to prepare guidelines for compensating customers and sanctioning operators that fail to meet required standards.

“I've tasked the regulator with preparing a framework for customer remediation and sanctions where operators fall short, to ensure that customers are given some benefit when they lose service,” George said at the Government Accountability Series briefing.

The proposed scheme follows mounting concern over fibre cuts and network outages across Ghana. George said the country had recorded more than 8,000 fibre cuts this year, including almost 4,300 by the end of June. Repair costs had surpassed $20 million, he said, with road construction, particularly projects under the government’s Big Push programme, responsible for about half of the damage.

Illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, and private and estate developers accounted for the remainder, according to the minister. He cited outages lasting 17 hours along the Winneba-Mankessim road, 19 hours across the Ho-Ziope area and nine hours between Hwediem and Goaso. Fibre cables were damaged during road excavation works in those cases, he said.

George also pointed to instability in the national power grid, including an Akosombo fire that knocked out nearly 60% of grid capacity. Flooding in parts of Greater Accra led authorities to switch off power to prevent electrocution, while backup generators at several cell sites were submerged.

The NCA plans to finalise guidelines for coordinating road excavation and introduce penalties to recover the cost of damage to telecommunications infrastructure. It will also update quality-of-service rules to distinguish outages caused by operators from those caused by third parties. The ministry intends to implement the measures before the end of the year.

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I've tasked the regulator with preparing a framework for customer remediation and sanctions where operators fall short, to ensure that customers are given some benefit when they lose service.