Chamwe Kaira
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) says the long-running complaints about data disappearing are mostly linked to how customers use their mobile devices and apps, not to incorrect billing by the company.
MTC managing director Licky Erastus told Observer Money that customers have raised these concerns for years, but MTC’s investigations indicate that most cases relate to customer education.
He said the company has tools that track usage and billing.
“We can demonstrate where the usage happened. We need to do customer education,” he said. Erastus added that in all cases where MTC provided feedback, customers were satisfied.
MTC’s chief brand, marketing, communications and sustainability officer, Tim Ekandjo, said the issue of “chow my data” has been around for a long time.
He said MTC plans to roll out education campaigns to explain how devices and apps use data.
The company will engage mobile phone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung and Huawei to help clarify how their devices operate.
Ekandjo said the campaigns will show customers how to switch off background apps and protect their data.
According to the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia’s (Cran) 2024 integrated annual report, the authority received 13 complaints against telecommunications service licensees during the reporting period. Eight were against MTC, and five were against Telecom Namibia.
As of 31 January 2024, the authority had resolved 10 complaints and left three unresolved.
The percentage of resolved and unresolved complaints stayed the same as in 2023, at 70% and 30%, respectively.
Of the resolved complaints, six were from MTC customers and four from Telecom Namibia customers.
MTC was involved in two of the unresolved complaints, while Telecom Namibia was involved in one.
Cran reported that consumers lodged eight complaints against MTC.
Three were related to billing, three to SIM registration, one to service delivery and one to quality of service.
Five complaints were received against Telecom Namibia, four related to billing and one to quality of service.
