As part of its efforts to protect and empower consumers, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has published an updated Quality of Service (“QoS”) Regulation applicable to all licensed operators in the Kingdom. The amendments to the regulation sets out key QoS targets for licensed operators to achieve in delivering services to consumers.
This regulation is an important part of the TRA’s strategic objectives which aim at empowering consumers and ensuring that they receive the best services. The TRA has enhanced and built on the initial 2008 QoS Regulation to ensure that an effective legal framework is established determining the level of quality of service that the licensees are committed to when providing services to consumers. High quality of the telecommunications services available in the Kingdom is a very important aspect of the day-to-day life for consumers and supports the ability for consumer to fulfill their activities easily and efficiently.
The TRA specified a period of 6 weeks for all individuals and organizations during which it conducted the public consultation on the Regulation to receive feedback and comments from the concerned parties. Additionally, the TRA held workshops to brief the local telecommunications operators in the kingdom on the updated QOS Regulation based on the principle of transparency with the licensees, who in turn will abide by the provisions of this Regulation.
“The review of the regulation ensured that the main quality aspects of the services delivered by telecommunications companies are in line with latest technological capabilities, best practices and forward looking to enable an effective and flexible regulatory framework to serve consumers. The TRA ensures that competition between the licensees does not affect the quality and efficiency of telecommunication services. To protect consumer rights and their ability to make better informed choices, based on quality and operators performance, the TRA will be publishing comparative indicators for numerous categories including: Service Provision, Reported Faults, Service Restoration, Billing Accuracy, Complaints and Network Measurements”, the TRA’s Acting General Director stated, Sh. Nasser bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa.
“There is a good level of cooperation from the industry in providing quality of service parameters to the TRA who in turn verifies these parameters. The TRA expects to be in a position to publish the quality of service parameters based on the reporting period ending Dec 2018”. Sh. Nasser added.
The updated QoS Regulation can be found at the TRA’s legal instrument page on its website at: http://www.tra.org.bh/en/legal-instruments/regulations/
Source: Press Release