The House of Representatives has mandated Lonestar Cell MTN to restore all customers’ unused credits, data and promotion packages that expired during the time of bad network.
The decision was taken on Thursday, March 7, 2024, based upon an investigation and subsequent report of the Committee on Post & Telecommunication on the service providers.
The committee also recommended that a comprehensive report of the restitution to customers be presented to the Committee on Post and Telecommunication. Recently, River Gee County’s district #3 Representative, Johnson S. N. Williams, complained about bad customer service and poor telecommunication services offered by Lonestar MTN in his constituency, which prompted the committee’s investigation.
The committee, in a report to plenary, added that a gathering, which brought together the two major GSM companies operating in Liberia, Lonestar MTN and Orange Liberia, was later convened. The report says Lonestar MTN, represented by a team of three persons, headed by Ali Fakih, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, acknowledged the poor telecommunication services, attributing it to one of its satellite sites in River Gee experiencing frequency interference.
Fakih also stated that there existed a temporary downtime because of the modernization or upgrade of their system, the difficulties faced in getting fuel and other materials to sites due to bad roads, fuel theft, among others.
He said the appropriate actions have been taken to restore quality service beyond River Gee. For her part, Orange Liberia, represented by Cllr. Supu H.W. Cole, Sr., also acknowledged the challenge in terms of the poor quality of the network and internet but said the company acted years ago by connecting the southeast with microwave towers and is currently constructing its fiber cable network to connect to its installations in the southeast.
The committee report added that Lonestar MTN disclosed its plan to improve the quality of service by Upgrading all of its sites to 4G by the end of 2024, constructing 300 new sites in the rural areas to mitigate satellite sites, on-going deployment of new generators to its sites, modernization plan and introduction of 5G by 2025, and network expansion.
Orange Liberia also disclosed its plan to improve the quality of service by upgrading 317 sites, constructing136 new sites before the end of 2024, and requestingbigger bandwidth and additional frequency from LTA.