Ghana BlackBerry users demand compensation for service disruption

Some BlackBerry users in Ghana are demanding compensation from local operators following a break in service last week.

According to them, telecom providers must compensate them for the exact number of days their services were disrupted.

Users of the service on the various networks in the country experienced an outage for days last week.

The disruption in the service started last Monday in Europe, the Middle East and Africa due to a core switch failure, according to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM).

Users of the blackberry services are charged between GHC 35 and 40 a month here in Ghana.

However, some analysts say it is unfair to ask the various telecom providers to compensate users because the system failure occurred outside Ghana.

But elsewhere around the world some telecom providers have asserted that they will compensate customers for the break in service.

Spanish group Telefonica said on its website it would compensate customers, in line with Spanish law, and Britain’s Vodafone is looking at the issue too but Vodafone Ghana is yet to comment on the issue of compensation.

Enoch Vanderpuye, the advertising and media manager of TIGO, the second largest mobile operator by subscriber base in Ghana, told Citi Business News that whatever resolution it decides on it will be communicated to its subscribers.

In South Africa Vodacom, Cell C and MTN have stated they will compensate subscribers.

MTN Ghana is yet to comment on whether it will offer any form of compensation to its customers, but Airtel Ghana’s head of corporate communications, Donald Gwira, said his outfit is yet to decide whether to do so especially when the outage was caused by RIM.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is faced with the prospect of a compensation bill from network providers across the world.

It is unknown yet how much money RIM may be looking at but industry players say a hefty bill to compensate customers could well land at RIM’s door.

By: Citifmonline. com