Airtel Malawi admits challenges in network upgrade exercise
Mobile phone network provider, Airtel Malawi, has admitted facing challenges in their on-going network upgrade exercise which they did not anticipate resulting in occasional service gaps.
Since the commencement of the upgrade works, clients on the network have had to contend with intermittent call drops, silent calls as well as slower speed of the internet in some pockets of the cities caused by the said challenges but Airtel has indicated they are taking steps in addressing the problem.
“To fast track closure of the remaining service gaps in the cities, we have delayed progressing with upgrading of the rest of the country in order to focus on fine-tuning the network and improving customer experience. The remaining areas of the country are planned to be upgraded from end September once the fine-tuning in the cities is completed,” said a statement which has been signed by Managing Director, Charles Kamoto.
Airtel Malawi initially set out to implement the network upgrade exercise from May to August starting with the cities of Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre before proceeding to the rest of the country. So far 290 sites have been upgraded in the three cities.
The upgrade has seen 3G data service being expanded to areas that previously did not have coverage and now more customers are able to access the data service. In addition to this, the cities have consequently experienced an unprecedented 30 percent in data traffic during the first month of the upgrade.
“4G services have also been deployed in the cities and internal testing is in progress before commercial launch to be communicated soon. The launch of Airtel 4G will define customer experience of data services in the country,” Airtel Malawi has said.
The mobile network provider has assured its customers that very soon the pain they have experienced will be over and they will be able to enjoy the best Airtel network experience
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