In line with the National Telecom Regulatory Authority’s (NTRA) strategy to support the user rights and ensure providing high-quality services in Egypt’s market, NTRA issued its second semi-annual report on telecom user complaints for the period between July and December 2022. The report presents the most important indicators with respect to landline, mobile, fixed internet and mobile set complaints. It also presents the rate and time of response to such complaints post escalation to NTRA.

NTRA actually receives telecom-user complaints against operators via the call center on (155). In Addition, it has recently provided new e-channels to facilitate communication with users and develop non-traditional methods for receiving complaints; such as, My NTRA App, NTRA’s website, e-mail address as well as instant messaging apps like WhatsApp. 184 212 complaints were received during the second half-year period of 2022 as a result of such procedures. Operators’ response rate to complaints during the same period reached 89%, whereas response time was 2.4 days in average. The following figures are presented being the most important information conveyed by the second semi-annual report:

• 184 212 complaints were escalated to NTRA against telecom operators including; 64 676 mobile complaints by 35%, 61 663 fixed internet complaints by 34%, 55 437 landline complaints by 30% and 2436 mobile set complaints by 1%.
• 87% of complaints were received via the call center (155), whereas 7% of complaints were registered on NTRA’s website. It is worth noting that 3% of complaints was raised via My NTRA and WhatsApp each.
• 44% of complaints was received in Greater Cairo and 28% in Delta. Meanwhile, 17% of complaints was raised by users in Upper Egypt, 8% by users in Alexandria and 3% by users in the Suez Canal cities.

Complaints regarding mobile set, mobile, fixed internet service and landline services are presented in details as follow: 

First: Mobile set complaints

The overall number of complaints escalated by mobile set owners to NTRA against dealerships were 2436 during the second half-year period of 2022. Meanwhile, the rate of complaint-resolving reached 99% with an average response time of 2.4 days. Most importantly, complaints were raised about poor technical support by 55%, refusal to replace products by 28% and maintenance issues by 17%. On the other hand, the average time taken for resolving complaints per dealership was as follow; Safi by 1.1 days, Ro’ya by 1.8 days, Sky by 1.9 days, I2 by 3.8 days and Raya by 4.2 days.

Secondly, mobile-user complaints against operators:

Number of mobile complaints was 63 per 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 95% with an average response time of 0.43 days

• Vodafone: Number of complaints escalated against Vodafone was 63/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate and the average response time scored 96% and 0.15 days respectively post escalation. Most of these complaints were about mobile wallets by 21%, billing and credit by 20%, service disconnection by 19%. Mobile Number Portability Service (MNP) by 17%, and customer service by 7%.
• Orange: It was complained against by 77 complaints/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 93%. Average response time had also been 0.82 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about billing and credit by 24%, MNP service and service disconnection by 17% each, marketing offers by 11%, and subscription to service without notification (entertainment service) by 10%.
• Etisalat: Number of complaints raised against Etisalat was 52/ 100 thousand subscribers. The rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 95% and the average response rate had been 0.4 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about service disconnection by 26%, MNP service by 25%, billing and credit by 16%, mobile wallets by 14% and customer service by 5%.
• Number of complaints raised against WE was 58/ 100 thousand subscribers. Meanwhile, the rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 95% and the average time of response had been 0.36 days. Moreover, most of these complaints were about service disconnection by 23%, customer service by 19%, MNP service by 17%, billing and credit by 15%, and mobile wallets by 11%.

Thirdly, fixed internet-user complaints against operators:

Number of fixed internet complaints was 616/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 94% with an average response time of 2.49 days.

• Vodafone: Number of complaints escalated against Vodafone was 861/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate and the average response time scored 98% and 0.19 days respectively post escalation. Most of these complaints were about service quality by 33%, line reserved without notification by 27%, inability to cancel subscription and customer service by 11% each and billing as well as credit service by 10%.
• Orange: It was complained against by 1858 complaints/ 100 thousand subscribers, whereas response rate to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 98%. Average response time had also been 0.36 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about service quality by 33%, billing and credit by 16%, line reserved without notification and customer service by 15% each, and inability to cancel subscription by 12%.
• Etisalat: Number of complaints raised against Etisalat was 1036/ 100 thousand subscribers. The rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 96% and the average response rate had been 0.26 days. Furthermore, most of these complaints were about service quality by 38%, billing and credit by 19%, line reserved without notification by 17%, customer service by 9% and inability to cancel subscription by 7%.  
• Number of complaints raised against WE was 495/ 100 thousand subscribers. Meanwhile, the rate of response to complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 92% and the average time of response had been 3.66 days. Moreover, most of these complaints were about service quality by 71%, customer service by 16%, billing and credit by 6%, as well as line reserved without notification and inability to cancel subscription by 2% each.

Fourthly: Landline- user complaints:

Landline complaints scored a number of 478 / 100 thousand subscribers, whereas the response rate of complaints after being escalated to NTRA had reached 70% and the average response time had been 4.6 days. Landline complaints were most importantly about breakdowns by 77%, delayed activation of service by 9%, service quality by 8%, customer service by 2% and billing as well as credit service by 1%. Furthermore, complaints were geographically distributed as follow: 49% in Greater Cairo, 28% in Delta, 15% in Upper Egypt, 6% in Alexandria and 2% in the Suez Canal area.

Amounts refunded to eligible users

A total number of EGP 3.3 million were refunded to eligible users by operators, from July to the end of December 2022, after the eligibility of such users to receive reparations had been proven by NTRA. The majority of amounts refunded were for mobile wallet complaints by 81%.

Measures taken by NTRA to uphold user rights after their complaints are monitored:

1. *1234# unified free code assigned to the elderly

A unified code (*1234#) was assigned by NTRA to the Elderly (65+ years old) to contact the call center for free, where an SMS is sent indicating that callers will be re-contacted within 15 minutes only. This measure was taken so as to facilitate the elderly’s access to services.

2. New reparation mechanisms for fixed internet subscribers approved in case of service breakdown

NTRA acknowledged new reparation mechanisms for fixed internet subscribers should the service be down. Fixed internet service providers are obliged to pay a minimum value of no less than the actual cost of service to affected users, whether for the time period through which the service was down or for an average consumption of package, in case the service is down for less than 24 hours. The operators are also obliged to pay a doubled value in return for each day the service is down, should disconnection last for a time period exceeding 24 hours, knowing that reparations should be effective within 30 days from being given to users. NTRA also obligated the operators to automatically add the reparation value to the user’s account once complaints are made as well as investigated and the customer’s eligibility to receive reparations are proven. An SMS should be also sent to users stating the details of entitled reparations.

3. Fines of EGP 35.7 million were imposed on mobile operators during the second half period of 2022

35.7 million pound-fines were imposed by NTRA on mobile operators during the second half year period of 2022 for violating the standards of complaint-response and MNP regulations.

4. *155# unified code used for 38.8 million times to inquire about, cancel entertainment services.

Since the service was launched in January 2020, the free unified code (*155#) was used for 38.8 million times to inquire about or cancel entertainment services such as, songs, news, games, etc… It’s worth noting that NTRA previously launched the unified code to reduce unfavorable practices like subscription to services without notifying or against the will of customers.