Abdulai Mansaray, author
“Couldn’t place a call. Make sure your device has internet connection and try again”. (WhatsApp call). “The number you’re calling is either switched off or outside coverage area” (Direct phone call). These are two of the most annoying and frustrating responses you get, trying to make a call in Sierra Leone. Like electricity, outages for internet connections happen. However, these should be the exception and not the rule. Unfortunately, this is fast becoming normal and accepting in Sierra Leone. It has become so normal and accepting that the average customer is now shock -resistant and anger- proof. The sigh with which such messages are received tells you all that you need to know about this appalling situation. This is unacceptable.
The service providers for mobile phones and the associated internet connections are to put it bluntly, below sub-standard. If their standard and level of service is anything to go by, you would be forgiven to think that Sierra Leone is still waiting to enter the millennium era. The standard of service is nothing near what you would expect in the 21st century. This is not in comparison with developed economies or the Western world. Other African countries fare better, considering the importance of the information highway which depends largely on the internet. No one needs a reminder or lecture on the value of the internet today.
As a nation, we should recognise and emphasize the power to connect the world and foster global community. Our service providers should aim to enable maximum access to information and opportunities. Our country and especially our college, university, and school going youth should be able to enjoy the transformative potential for education and business alike. Let us take advantage of the internet’s capacity to be an enriching tool and a source of imaginable information. We can only achieve that if we hold our providers to account and on to high standards.
What is appalling is that our service providers do not seem to reflect the importance of this phenomenon. What is gnawingly frustrating is when you think about the amount of money these companies invest in promotions, competitions and all the mess they add to our landscape in shape of billboards. Look at the giant billboards that are dotted all over the place, killing the scenic views as gigantic eyesores. In some cases, they even block out your vision when trying to navigate certain bends driving along the narrow streets of the capital city, Freetown. Can you imagine how much improvement they could make if they spent just a tiny fraction of that money on service improvement?
It is really sad that you could share the same seat with someone, call their phone number and be told that “The number you’re calling is either switched off or outside coverage area” You could load up your phone with data to last you a month and still receive the now proverbial response “Couldn’t place a call. Make sure your device has internet connection and try again”. This is even when your mobile data is turned on. Like I said earlier, such outages and breakages are then bane of technology world-wide. Sadly, and what is unacceptable is that this is becoming the norm, rather than the exception in Sierra Leone. This is unacceptable.
So, where did the guardrails of communication go?
Consumer Rights are an important fabric of the relationship between producers, providers on the one hand and consumers on the other. The relationship between these two are so important because such a relationship attracts exploitation. In most cases, it is very easy for the public(consumers) to be used, abused, misused, and refused. The public is not only vulnerable but also gullible. That is why it is important to have guardrails and protections for the public. In most cases, you have ombudsmen, commissions, standards agencies and many others to protect the public from the potentially shark like behaviour of service providers and others.
The level of subscription from services users and especially for mobile phones has grown astronomically over the years. Some experts put it that one in every three people has a mobile phone. This translates to a very high number of people buying data for internet use, thanks largely to social media. The provision of applications like WhatsApp allows “free” calls(supposedly) to users. Unlike direct calls which cost an arm and a leg, WhatsApp calls allow for long distance calls at relatively cheaper rate. You cannot stress its importance enough.
That is why service produces need statutory and non-statutory bodies to monitor, oversee, and regulate them as guardrails for the customers or consumers. Commissions and ombudsmen are set up to ensure VALUE FOR MONEY and consumer rights, among other things. Statutory bodies like NATCOM should be seen to step in and ensure value for money and high standards. At present, the services provided by most of these phone companies are below sub-standard. What is the point of buying your data and not being able to use it? Most of their promotions include data with expiry dates or duration/periods. If you buy your data and could only use 75% of it for the duration, what happens to the 25% that you had not used because “Lines were down”? This sounds like a con job if you cannot use all of your data because the duration of the “bundle” has expired. It is becoming a common vocabulary in banks and other businesses where transactions could not be transacted in time because of “De line Dae don”. In some businesses, you need to do “something” to “resuscitate “de line.
This is where services and bodies like NATCOM should come in. What is the use of the data if “The number you’re calling is either switched off or outside coverage area”. You buy your data and turn your data on. When you try making an internet call, you get this “Couldn’t place a call. Make sure your device has internet connection and try again”. We know that the office of NATCOM shares a fence with President Bio. There is a neighbourly atmosphere around that area. NATCOM should pull its finger out and hold these network providers to a high standard. The world has moved on and Sierra Leone should not be left to rot behind other countries. Technology is the way forward and we cannot be left behind. Substandard services are not only inappropriate but morally reprehensible these days. It is time to pull your finger out and stay 21st century. Those days of poor standards are no longer acceptable.
Let us remember that the internet is now the town square for the global village of tomorrow and we want to be part of it. If our service providers are not up to it, what should stop NATCOM from seeking better providers.
Our internet providers must know that it is not enough to bombard us with slogans like, “Empowering your digital life”, Connecting you to the world”, Your gateway to the World”, Fast, Reliable, Unstoppable”, The Internet Simplified”, Building Connections One Home at a time” PROVE IT.
However, let us remember that there is life without Facebook and internet. Really? Send me the link.
Don’t forget to turn the data off, when you switch your phone off
