The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has revealed that a total of EGP 970,000 was refunded to communication service users in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 after it intervened to settle their complaints.
The NTRA refunded the money to users in financial complaints against mobile operators after their claims were proven valid. A total of 55% of these complaints were related to mobile calls, 7% related to mobile internet, and 6% related to charging users with extra services against their desire. A further 3% related to roaming complaints, and 29% to incorrect claims. Vodafone was affected by 49% of the refunds, whilst 42% was from Orange, 6% from Etisalat, and 3% from WE.
The authority added that the indicators for resolving user complaints improved during the quarter, and the percentage of resolving users’ complaints after NTRA intervention increased to 96%. At the same time, the time it took to resolve complaints stood at 2.2 days.
According to a recent NTRA report, it received 54,500 complaints from users towards their service providers, including: 15,800 mobile phone complaints; 25,500 ADSL complaints; 11,900 landline complaints; and 1,300 mobile complaints.
The NTRA said that 78% of the complaints were made through its call centre, 14% through the website, 6% through the WhatsApp chat application, and 2% through social media platforms.
The report stated that the success of the number transfer process between the four mobile operators working in Egypt increased to 95% during Q4 of 2020. This compared to 86% in Q3 of the same year. The mobile operators working in Egypt are Vodafone, Orange, Etisalat, and WE.
The authority noted that about 110,000 numbers were successfully transferred from one operator to another in Q4 of 2020, compared to 54,000 numbers in Q3 of the same year.
Earlier this month, the NTRA launched a free short code service (*155 #) with which to respond to user complaints of finding services added to their mobile plans without their knowledge or desire.
The total number of times the code was used since the service was launched on 1 January reached 904,900 inquiries and cancellations.
