The National Communications Authority (NCA), the regulator of the Ghanaian telecommunications industry has imposed a combined fine of  Ghc 960,000 ($461,000) on the six mobile operators in the country.

The financial sanctions are based on the NCA’s monthly service quality monitoring of the mobile operators which the NCA said had been breached by all the operators.

In its “Quality of Service” findings for March and April, 2013 it said the operators  failed to maintain the quality of standards to their  consumers  in Greater Accra, Western, Brong  Ahafo and the three northern regions of the country (Ghana has 10 regions in total), an NCA statement disclosed.

The indicators measured by the NCA included the Call Congestion Rate, Call Setup Time (CST), Call Drop Rate (CDR), and Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Congestion Rate.

Ghana has six mobile operators-MTN, Vodafone, Tigo, Bharti Airtel, Glo Mobile and Expresso.

MTN Ghana received the highest fine of Ghc350,000 ($170,000) for defaulting in Call congestion and Call Setup Time obligations in three regions. The rest of the fines are Tigo Ghc 250,000 ($125,000), Expresso Ghc200,000 ($100,000), Glo Ghc100,000 ($50,000) and  Airtel Ghc50,000 ($25,000).

This fine is likely to add to the frustrations of the mobile operators after the government last week introduced a 6% Communication tax on inter-connectivity calls on mobile operators. The mobile telecom sector is one of the most competitive on the African continent, with experts saying the market has reached a saturation point.

The mobile operators say the major problem they face on their service quality is the problem of fibre cable cuts due to road construction work taking place across the country. It is also compounded by theft of their cables by criminals who sell them for their copper parts.