A new customer satisfaction survey by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has found that over 70% of complainants are not satisfied with how the regulator handles their issues. The survey shows a huge gap in consumer satisfaction particularly on effectiveness and speed of complaint resolution.
Only 29.3% of consumers who lodged complaints to CA were satisfied with the process, leaving a majority unhappy. The complaints cover various issues including scams, poor service from providers like Zuku and Safaricom, cybercrime, domain registrar issues and courier service problems.
It’s not just the telecom services that are unhappy but internet disruptions, illegal internet provision, TV and radio broadcast concerns and general network performance. The survey also shows that consumers reach out to CA through multiple channels—email (60.3%), phone calls (15.9%), website submissions (7.9%), social media (9.5%) and physical visits and letters. But despite the many channels available, less than half of those who filed complaints in the last one year found CA’s response satisfactory.
CA licensees—telecom companies, internet service providers, courier and postal services and broadcasters—reported higher satisfaction rate. Over 70% of licensees were satisfied with CA’s services particularly on speed, vigilance and accuracy of the quarterly reports.
While 54% of consumers who deal directly with CA are satisfied, a huge number of suppliers and partners are not. The survey shows that 38% of CA’s suppliers and 20.2% of its affiliates including donors and collaborating agencies were dissatisfied with CA’s services.
Overall, the dissatisfaction with CA’s services has gone up compared to last year. In 2024, 28.7% of the surveyed stakeholders were dissatisfied, up from 19.9% in 2023. This trend shows CA needs to improve its consumer engagement and complaints resolution mechanisms.
As CA is the key regulator of Kenya’s technology and telecommunications sector, addressing these gaps is crucial to restore public confidence. As the number of complaints continues to rise, we wait to see if CA will implement reforms to improve its responsiveness and service quality.