During a press briefing organized on November 21, 2018, Bilé Diéméléou (photo), managing director of l’ARTCI, Côte d’Ivoire’s telecom regulator, asked operators to quickly implement necessary measures to guarantee quality services for users. In addition, operators are required to take appropriate measures to guarantee continuity and quality during the upgrading works required from them.

In order to determine how far networks have been degraded, ARTCI revealed that there is an “ongoing audit”.  Bilé Diéméléou, indicated that "in case new failures are identified, sanctions will be stiffer and could range from reduction of the duration of the licenses to permanent withdrawals".

This call to order follows numerous users’ complaints on the difficulties to communicate and access some services like financial transactions.

Conscious of the fact that degradation of service quality can also be the result of vandalism conducted by residents, ARTCI asked residents to refrain from degrading infrastructures or risk being punished.