
* We are also working closely with Airtel and TNM and have given each other six months to rectify all issues affecting service delivery
* As MACRA inaugurates it’s Mzuzu office, Zwangendaba House, presided over by His Majesty Inkosi ya Makhosi Mmbelwa V
By George Mponda, MANA
Malawi Communications & Regualatory Authority (MACRA) promises that quality of services provided by mobile networks will improve after six months.

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Director General, Daud Suleman made the pledge on Saturday in Mzuzu during the opening of MACRA’s office complex called Zwangendaba House, saying: “As a regulator, our number one priority is to protect the customers and improve service delivery.
“We are also working closely with Airtel and TNM and have given each other six months to rectify all issues which are affecting service delivery, he said, adding they have rolled out a project called ‘Better Quality of Service for Malawi’.

Zwangendaba House, presided over by His Majesty Inkosi ya Makhosi Mmbelwa V (in blue)
Suleman also announced that the authority has invested US$10 million to set up systems which will enable them to know what time there was bad reception on phones and what time calls were dropping.
“As regulator, these systems will help us be proactive. We are coming from an era where regulation was gossip since we had to be told that calls are dropping somewhere.

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“With these systems, we will now have hard evidence and when we approach service providers when they have bad service at a certain time we will have evidence of that hence there is no way they can escape,” he said.
In his remarks, MACRA’s Audit and Finance Committee chairperson, Alekeni Menyani said they want to ensure there is universal access to services in line with digitalisation policy contained in MW2063. national vision.

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Meanwhile, MACRA has made big strides in re-farming project of the FM frequency band of 87.5-108 MHz aimed at accommodating more licensees within the band.
In a statement last week, Suleman said MACRA now has assigned FM frequencies to all licensed radio stations and has also identified free frequencies to be assigned to prospective stations.
“The project has ensured that the current solution will withstand the current demand and remain useful for many years to come,” he said, adding that the newly assigned frequencies will be used from January 1, 2024.
“In the meantime, all stations — in conjunction with the Authority, have embarked on extensive awareness exercises to ensure that by the effective date, the public will be able to tune in to their preferred station with ease.”
He further announced that MACRA engaged various stakeholders in the initiative, such as radio stations broadcasting engineers, for their input as well as sensitizing them on the FM frequency band re-farming process and the benefits that will accrue, including maximizing space and reduction of interferences.

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Through the changes, licenses will be classified into three categories of National, Regional and Community while the community radio stations will be limited to their jurisdiction and will not spill over into other districts as was the case before.
The benefits are that all stations will have their required frequencies to operate in any part of the country ensuring the availability of frequencies for prospective operators in all licence categories and the ability to accommodate new players and meet increased demand in the long term.
Operators will use sites that have been designated for transmitters throughout the country and that frequencies will easily be identified for radio stations.

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MACRA is on a turnaround mode to meet the aspirations of the MW2063 vision as just last week, it enhanced its National Addressing System (NAS) project — a multi-stakeholder-driven national initiative whose primary objective is to develop a robust national physical addressing system in the country.
NAS is a comprehensive addressing system that identifies a person by house number, street name and postcode, whose pilot phase was done in the cities and has now rolled out into districts throughout the country.—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express

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