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Department
of Legal, Compliance and Consumer Affairs
The
department of Legal, compliance and Consumer affairs comprises of
three sub units of Legal, Compliance and consumer affairs with the
following functions
PURPOSE
Legal
Unit
- Legal
Advisor to the BTA Board, on whether it is acting within the scope
of the Telecommunications Act and
Regulations
- Legal
advisor to the BTA business in general
- Performance
of regulatory functions, including the drafting of licenses, dispute
settlement, and any rulings issued by the Authority.
- Secretarial
duties - BTA Board, organizing and attending all Board meetings
and preparing minutes for these meetings
- Debt
Collection- Outsourcing, management and control
- Legislative
and regulatory compliance responsibilities
- To
advise the Authority on adherence of service providers and licence
holders on statutory, licence and contractual agreements and recommend
appropriate legal action to ensure the delivery of value for money,
competitive, reliable and quality services in accordance with
the provision of licences and agreements.
- To
ensure that there is publication and gazettement of some of the
decisions taken by the authority in the official publications.
These include service provider licenses and the Telecommunication
Regulations.
Compliance Unit
- To
ensure compliance by telecommunications service providers with
the provisions of relevant statutory instruments and conditions
of their respective Licences as well as to promote synergy between
BTA and operators in order to optimise benefits to consumers of
telecommunications services.
- Monitor
performance of operators against set quality of service standards.
- ensure
that operators comply with provisions of the Telecommunications
Act, regulations as well as their respective licence conditions
- enforce
telecommunication laws and regulatory decisions
enforce competition rules prohibiting anti-competitive practices
- investigates
possible infractions of laws and regulations including rules and
decisions
investigates consumer complaints
- Educate
consumers about their rights with respect to telecommunication
services
-
Acts as a focal point within BTA for all issues relating to the
business of telecommunications. It is a conduit through which
operators are able to access all structures of the BTA
Complaints Handling Procedures
The BTA’s department of Legal, Compliance and Consumer Affairs
(DLCCA)is mandated to protect consumers of telecommunication service
by investigates their complaints and resolving them where possible.
These notwithstanding consumers are encouraged to seek all possible
remedies form operators before approaching the department of Compliance
and Consumer Affairs for assistance. For instance consumers should
exhaust all of the operators’ internal complaint procedures
before seeking recourse from BTA’s Department of Legal Compliance
and Consumer Affairs.
The DLCCA provides free service to people who use telecommunications
services (Business and residential consumers), and who have been
unable to resolve a complaint directly with Public Telecommunication
Operators and Value Added Networks.
The department handles complaints relating to:
- Billing
- Interconnection
- Fault
repairs
- Mobile
phone problems
- Poor
service quality and reliability
- Internet
access contracts
- Misleading
advertisement and promotions, amongst others.
Process
of Handling Complaints
The Compliance and 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
complaints it may take longer to resolve the complaint, however
the complainant will be kept abreast of the progress.
However, before DLCCA intervention, the complainant should have
exhausted all complaint channels with the service provider. Complainants
are advised to
- 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 them relevant documents such as agreements, bills and
correspondences that they consider relevant to their complaints
and not send originals to the unit of consumer affairs.
When
lodging a complaint with the department the complainant will be
required to provide some personal information that will be made
available to the service provider. If the complainant wishes to
withhold personal information the Consumer Affairs may not be able
to assist.
Achievements
of the department
-
The department has achieved a turn around time of two days on
acknowledging receipt of correspondence.
-
Cases that are not technical are resolved within two weeks of
receipt
- Enforcement
of compliance by the operators is at 90%. All service providers
are reminded on regular basis of their license conditions and
the need to comply as stipulated. There has been great response
with very few issues outstanding and these are being pursued.
-
Information materials have been developed for use during the awareness
education campaigns.
-
As part of the education drive, five District Councils have been
addressed by the department in conjunction with the Communication
and Public Relations Department.
-
An Education Plan is in place together with the Action Plan.
Survey
Botswana
Telecommunications Authority through its department of Compliance
and Consumer Affairs carried out a survey with a view to assess
how consumers perceive the quality of telecommunications services
provided to them. The survey covered a sample of 1000 respondents
from 10 locations in Botswana. Whilst the results of the survey
may not be representative of the views of consumers across Botswana,
they nonetheless give useful indicators which BTA, as a regulator
of telecommunications services, ought to consider as it continues
to strive for promotion of high quality telecommunications services
to Batswana.
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
Draft Quality
of Service
How
to contact us
All correspondence should be addressed to:
Chief Executive
Botswana Telecommunications Authority
Private Bag 00495
Gaborone
Botswana
E-Mail: info@bta.org.bw
Telephone: +267 3957755
Fax: +267 3957976
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