Kenya’s largest mobile operator Safaricom has a second chance at quality of service (QoS) checks after the telco failed a previous assessment carried out by an industry watchdog.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has agreed to offer Safaricom a fresh round of tests after the telecoms firm scored just 50% in an assessment for the 2012/13 period.

However, all Kenyan mobile operators failed to reach an 80% QoS target set by the CCK.

Also, licences for mobile operators may not be renewed unless the telecom providers meet the quality of standards target, government has warned.

“There is room to do another QoS (quality of service) assessment study between now and the time Safaricom’s licence comes for renewal, however this can only be done if Safaricom itself makes such a request,” Francis Wangusi, CCK director general, has been quoted in reports.

“In the event that we don’t hear from them we will presume that they are okay with our report or have not improved on any of the parameters we found wanting and as such we will proceed and use the pasts QoS reports in the evaluation of the suitability of renewing Safaricom’s licence,” Wangusi added.

Despite scoring 50% in the CCK test, Safaricom says an independent assessment had awarded it an 87.5% score.

Safaricom is required to pay $27 million to have its licence renewed for the next ten years.

A refusal to renew Safaricom’s licence could be tricky though as the mobile operator, which has over 20 million subscribers, says it remitted Kshs 23.06 billion in duties, taxes and license fees for the six month period ended 30 September 2013.