Consumer Advice - Botswana Telecommunications Authority

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Complaining to BTA

The Botswana Telecommunication Authority (BTA) has a unit of Consumer Affairs under the department of Legal, Compliance and Coonsumer Affairs department, responsible for handling Telecommunications operators and consumer complaints.

The BTA Consumer Affairs unit provide free service to people who use telecommunications (Business and residential consumers) and who have been unable to solve a complaint directly with telecommunication service providers or Internet service Providers (ISP).

The BTA consumer affairs unit act as a last resort to the complainant, meaning that before the department investigate the complaint, the complainant must have exhausted all the channels with the company responsible (e.g. Service provider or telecommunications operator). The complainant is advised to write to the senior representative of the company, such as customer service manager, and make a reasonable attempt to resolve the dispute directly with the service provider. If there is no solution between the two, then the complainant may launch complain with ConsumerAffairs unit

Complaints procedures and forms download below

.(complaint Form, complaint resolution Form)

Complaints management Procedure

Code of Conduct introductory papers

Voluntary code of Conduct for operators

Introductory paper to Quality of Service - Guidelines

Quality of Service - Guideline framework

What Does Consumer Affairs Department Investigate?

The Consumer Affairs unit will investigates complaints on the facts provided by both parties (the Service provider and the complainant), and it will reach a resolution based on the telecommunications Act of 1996 and what we consider to be fair and reasonable under the circumstances.

The Consumer Affairs will help to resolve complaint on the:
Provision of telecommunication (failure to provide or repair) equipment and Internet service.
Billing
Interconnection problems
Delays in repairing and connecting service to customers
Fault repairs
Mobile phones problems
Internet access contracts

The Consumer Affairs unit will need cooperation and assistance to ensure that the process is as effective and fast as possible. The Complainant should think about what the end results of the investigation should be whether, a formal apology, an explanation, financial compensation or simply ensuring that the problem never happens again from the service providers

The complainant should think about their argument and weigh up the evidence on their side. If the complainant does not have enough information or evidence it might be difficult to achieve this results, and the complainant should be willing to compromise if need be.

Process of Handling Complaints

The Consumer Affairs department will make an independent assessment of the complaint. The complaint will be attended to within two days of receipt of the letter, fax or email and for complex complaint that may take longer time to resolve the complainant will be kept about the progress.

Remember before Complaining to Consumer Affairs

Try to resolve the problem directly with your service providers, speak to customers service manager or any senior representative of the company and written complaints are vital and please keep copies.
Get the full name, position of the customer service manager and make notes of key points discussed. Always record the time and date of the conversation.
Always have with you relevant papers such as contract, bills and correspondence document that you consider being your evidence, and do not send original documents to the unit of consumer affairs.

When you lodge a complaint with the department you will be required to provide some personal information that will be made available to the service provider. If you wish to remain anonymous or withhold personal information the Consumer Affairs may not be able to assist you.

If you would like to complain to BTA write to:

The Consumer Affairs Manager
Botswana Telecommunications Authority
Private Bag 00495
Gaborone
Botswana

E-Mail: consumer@bta.org.bw

Telephone: +267 357-755 ext. 127
Fax: +267 357-976