Ghana’s telecommunications watchdog has slapped five mobile operators in the country with fines totalling more than GH¢900,000 for poor quality of network services.

Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) says it has dished out fines of GH¢300,000 each to MTN Ghana and Glo Mobile. Meanwhile, Expresso, Airtel, and Tigo each received fines of GH¢100,000.

Only Vodafone Ghana has been found to be compliant with quality of service requirements, says the NCA.

The watchdog’s move to fine these telcos follows the country’s first quarter quality of service monitoring studies.

Issues such as call congestion and dropped calls are among those plaguing telcos in the country, says Ghana's NCA director general, Paarock Van Percy.

“The quality of service standards test is carried out by the NCA to assess the service provision standards from consumers’ perspective in an attempt to enhance services provided by the network operators,” Van Percy said.

In the past, mobile operators facing allegations of poor quality of service in Ghana have blamed poor energy supplies, fibre-cuts and fuel-theft as the topmost challenges threatening their networks.

Mobile networks in Ghana, though, are also bursting at the seams, as the West African nation is one of a handful to have a 100% mobile penetration rate.

The NCA said earlier this year that the number of subscriptions in the country hit 26.4 million: Ghana has a population of 24.9 million people, according to the World Bank.

Ghana, however, is not the only country in West Africa where mobile operators are under pressure with regard to their networks’ quality of service.

Last year, Nigeria's telecoms regulator fined the country's four main mobile operators, which include the likes of MTN and Bharti Airtel, a total of 1.17 billion naira on for poor-quality service.