The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has imposed a fine totalling Ksh.311 million on three mobile operators.

According to the CA's latest QoS report, the companies failed to meet the 80% threshold set for compliance with quality of service parameters for the fourth year running.

"Safaricom scored 62.5 percent, while Airtel and Telkom Kenya Ltd were rated at 75 percent each. However, with an industry average of 70 per cent, the 2015/2016 score is an improvement, compared to the 62.5 percent average for the preceding year," reads an excerpt from the CA's report.

The CA says it has issued the three licensees with warning notices for non-compliance and also fined them a sum equivalent to 0.15% of their individual latest financial returns for the period prior to 30 June 2017.

The report also includes a comparative performance of the past three years in relation to QoS. A mobile operator is rated compliant when they attain 80% of the set QoS Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The KPIs include 'call completion rate, speech quality and 'call setup time' and others from samples obtained in different regions countrywide.

Wangusi on leave

Just hours after the CA made the QoS report publicly available, the organisation announced that its Director General and CEO Francis Wangusi has been put on leave effective from last week Friday, as an audit of the CA's human resources function takes place.

Christopher Huka, Chair of the Board Session that made the decision said, "The decision was reached at the Board meeting held on January 12, 2018. At the meeting, the Board appointed Mr Christopher Kemei as Acting Director General. Mr Kemei is the Director of Licensing, Compliance and Standards at the Authority."

Huka did not indicate whether the audit would be expected to make any findings about Wangusi's conduct in his role as head of the CA, and did not confirm a timeline for the duration of the audit.