Incidents and Impacts on Operator Revenue in the Telecommunications Sector: A Multiple Case-Study Approach

Abstract

This study adopted a multiple case-study approach to investigate incidents, their impacts on performance, and revenues in the telecommunications sector using data from Ghana. The study used open-ended qualitative interviews and document review methods. The study performed a thematic analysis with the Atlas TI software program to analyse the qualitative dataset. The findings resulted in a model dubbed the “Telecommunications Sector Incidents Framework”, which reveals that faulty hardware, end-of-system life, cell site congestion, power failure, microwave link failure, fibre failure, and Wi-Fi disconnection are among the incidents prevalent in the telecommunications sector. The framework also reveals that the incidents occur frequently, resulting in an average revenue loss of GH₵2 to 3 million ($182K to $273K) per month. Again, it reveals that employees become demoralized due to a lack of work-life balance, sleepless nights, frustrations, and undue pressure, which affects their productivity levels. With this framework, mobile network operators (MNOs) could get a better understanding of the incidents to keep their occurrences to a manageable level, create an exceptional customer experience by reducing churn, and increase revenues.