Togo’s Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority (ARCEP) has confirmed it will sanction mobile operator Togocel over what it described as “serious inconvenience and malfunctions of T-Money services, and lack of information for consumers.”

The sanction is for disruption of services on T-Money on 17 November 2020 and according to ARCEP, the operator failed to inform the regulator or customers of the disruption. It is also being sanctioned for faulty quality of service.

A statement released by ARCEP reads: "In the event of a disruption or interruption in the provision of services lasting more than two hours, the operator must inform its customers about the nature of the problem and the approximate time within which the service will be restored.”

Togocel’s parent company TogoCom Group said it will abide by the regulator’s guidelines and directives, and added that it is striving to improve its quality of service, reduce downtime and costs.

Franco-Malagasy Paulin Alazard, CEO of TogoCom, said efforts are being made to improve the quality of services and expand the reach of the network.

“TogoCom is making every effort to offer the best services to all its customers while ensuring the proximity and availability of its products and services for all budgets. We will continue to pool our strengths to offer a better quality of service to the end customer; ensure access to the most remote areas, and bring the best of mobile technology to the Togolese population.”

He added that the company, together with ARCEP, had already announced the deployment of a new, more harmonious and ambitious pricing policy with the ultimate goal of satisfying all of its customers.

“The ultimate objective is to popularise communication with prices accessible to all layers of the population throughout the national territory,” Alazard added.

However, ARCEP’s Director General, Michel Yaovi Galley said Togocel’s official explanation was inadmissible.

Galley said: “The explanations provided by Togo Cellulaire were deemed inadmissible by ARCEP, which thus decided to open a sanction procedure against it.”

The latest development could hamper Togocel’s ambition to achieve commercial roll out of 5G in the country by 2025.