Burkina Faso regulator fines Airtel

Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), Burkina Faso’s local telecoms regulator, has fined Airtel’s Burkina Faso subsidiary. Airtel failed to meet set service quality standards. Opposition operators, Telmob and Telecel, were recently fined for similar infringements.

ARCEP imposed a penalty of around 2.7 billion CFA (approximately $5.5-million) on Airtel, Telmob and Telecel. Telmob received the largest fine of 1.08 billion CFA ($2.2-million), followed by 894 million ($1.8-million) CFA on Airtel and 724 million CFA ($1.4-million) on Telecel.

ARCEP issued sanctions after a two round quality service audit carried out in the May-June and November-December 2011 period.

An ARCEP official told our reporters via telephone late Monday afternoon these fines are “a sign that we are serious about improving our telecom sector and hopefully this ruling will get the companies back on track”.

With recent boosts in its African operations Airtel hopes to continue investment in the continent’s telecom sector, despite rumours last they might pull out.

Andrew Matapare