Nairobi — A bill introduced in Parliament that sought to compel mobile telco firms to reimburse customers Sh10 for every dropped call has expired, a sign of relief for telco providers including Safaricom and Airtel.
If passed to law, the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill, 2019 would see the customers compensated for a maximum of three calls per day.
The bill which was introduced in 2019 by Gem Member of Parliament (MP) Elisha Odhiambo, sought to promote quality services, increase nationwide access to telecommunication services to all consumers including those in low-income, and rural areas.
"A licensee is liable to credit a customer who initiates a call that gets cut out after a connection by Sh 10 worth of airtime for each call drop within its network for a maximum of three calls per day. A licensee shall not be liable to compensate a consumer where a call gets cut out due to third party interference on the licensee’s connection lines, inevitable accident," the bill read in part.
It however lapsed after MPs failed to debate it and conclude its second reading.
"The following bills which were published in 2019 and whose second reading had not been concluded by end of the fifth session have now lapsed," National Assembly speaker Johnson Muturi ruled on Wednesday.
