The leading contributor to the national treasury in terms of tax, MTN, is currently facing growth-related challenges. In simple language, the subscriber demand has outgrown the company’s network capacity.

The result is that there is no guarantee your call will go through at the first try. It may go through first time, much as it may take pressing the green button as many times as 10 or more. This is true even if both you the caller and the person you are calling are in Nyarutarama.

There are callers who are less persistent than others and so will give up the moment the call does not go through first time. Giving up can also be for the reason that you think the telephone you are calling is not available because it is genuinely out of reach.

In this, subscribers lose because they often fail to make timely communication and so business can suffer.

In the first quarter of this fiscal year, government can be sure to collect less revenue from this top tax payer because its taxable income shall have been affected by registering a reduced number of successful calls, thus less airtime cards sold.

The biggest loser here though, is MTN. This is because it is losing both money and image. This is also the reason we should believe the company’s Chief Executive Officer when he says they are doing everything in their means to sort out the network problem as soon as possible.

In an interview held with him on Friday last week, he was hopeful it was going to take about one more week to put things right. That week ends tomorrow and if good quality network will not have been restored, it will not be because nothing is being done. More than the subscriber and government, MTN wants the network to improve.

The public, through The New Times, sought explanation for the poor quality network. In the world of excellent customer service, it is the media which is looked at to relay explanations.

Still, MTN did a good job explaining. We hope other service providers learn a lesson or two. Banks must explain to customers why service cannot be faster. Hospitals must explain why a doctor cannot be seen on time even on prior arrangement. Because we have to live the commitment we made of becoming a service economy.

Ends