Some 21 years ago, the first mobile telephony service, Mobitel, was introduced into the country. Not just anybody could own a phone even if they so desired. Not only were the phones themselves a scarce commodity, but getting a SIM could cost you an entire fortune. But thanks to the deregulation of the telecoms sector in the late 90's, we began the process of demystifying the sector, and here we are at a stage where SIM cards can be bought on the street. Just a little over two decades ago, the mobile phone subscription rate stood at 19,000. During that time, all one needed was a handset; not much attention was paid to the quality of service. Fast forward to 2013, the situation has changed entirely. The sector has opened up, breaking the “monopoly” of Mobitel, which metamorphosed into Buzz and finally Tigo. We now have five more mobile telephony service operators: Airtel, Glo, Vodafone, MTN and Expresso. In 1997, the sector regulator, the National Communication Authority (NCA), was established to ensure that standards in the sector are not only met but also maintained. According to the latest NCA data, the mobile phone penetration rate has crossed the 100 percent mark, no mean feat looking at where we are coming from. The explosion in mobile phone penetration has come with challenges that the telcos are not addressing adequately, something which beats my imagination. It's true some gains have been made but some of the problems are way too basic for us to be grappling with them at this stage of our development. I won't attempt to enumerate all of these challenges as some of them appear to have been overflogged, even though not much improvement has been seen. One area where telcos need to sit up is the area of unsolicited advertisements or whatever they call it. Just as I was grudgingly getting used to the automated text messages, they added a new dimension to it. Nowadays, automated calls are a common occurrence. In as much as I can't speak for every subscriber, I believe that by default, subscribers must be made to choose whether or not they would like to subscribe to such advertisements. Some of the telcos say give subscribers the option to be excluded from the recipients of the unsolicited messages, but I thought subscribers rather ought to have the option of being included among the recipients of such messages. This would mean only those who expressly request or agree to receive these messages would get them. Over the last few days, my network operator has decided to play “piloloo”, or hide-and-seek, with me. By “piloloo” I mean my network deciding when I can make or receive calls. You see, when the network operators use their sheer subscriber size as a demonstration of their popular endorsement, then they should have adequate infrastructure to carry the huge numbers. After all, it's not my fault that I'm on the most populous network. It is particularly worse subscribers are not forewarned about disruptions in service. I have heard that in some instances network operators announce an impending disruption in service on media platforms, rather than doing so on their own platforms. Honestly, if I am asked to tell which network has the fastest internet speed, I won't be in a position to tell. The operators may have fulfilled Key Performance Indicators, as required by the regulator, but what they should be doing is to be measuring the actual user experience from the user perspective. In the not too distant future, it is estimated that the telcos will be making more money from data than they do from voice. As such, the time is apt for them to start investing in their infrastructure. Usually, the explanation given for poor service delivery is the location where the service is been accessed from. So in that case, why don't operators provide us a map which will detail areas where connectivity will be fast or otherwise to guide prospective subscribers? The thing about data is very dear to my heart. During the day when connectively is very slow, we are told it's usually congestion. As if that is not enough, when it's same in the night we are told maintenance is done around that time. If you have had your internet bundle expire when you haven’t been able to use it because of poor service, you would probably understand my concerns. In all of these, I have refrained from mentioning names because I have been at the receiving end of all the telcos and I don't see much “service” in the service they are supposed to be rendering. Have you ever tried calling an operator call centre? Well, all I can say is that the growth in networks must reflect in the number of customer service people at the call centres. If the network operators think that they are doing us a favour, they might as well have a rethink. No one pays for favours to be done. Unless of course it's bribery which in this case does not arise. We have come a long way, but we equally have a long way ahead of us. Network operators must sit up or the regulator must be forced to crack the whip! I'm out!