The Nigeria Communications Commission has fined   Bharti Airtel and three other phone companies a total of 7.3 million dollars for providing poor services to customers.

The regulator has fined Bharti Airtel Ltd. of India, Abu Dhabi based Etisalat, local firm Globacom Ltd. and South Africa based MTN Group Ltd., some of the dominant carriers in Africa’s most populous nation.

While Etisalat and MTN will pay $2.25 million each, Airtel faces a penalty of $1.68 million and Globacom faces a $1.125 million fine, said Reuben Muoka, a commission spokesman.

They have been for poor service, dropped calls and bad line quality in March and April, Muoka said. The commission issued a statement Saturday saying that they decided to allow January and February to be a grace period for the companies to improve their services.

In October, the communications commission warned carriers it would begin fining them for poor service.

“The current penalties signal a new regime of quality of service management in the Nigerian telecommunications industry,” the commission said.

The companies have until May 21 to pay the regulators or they will face further penalties.

The telecom regulatory authority had earlier in October 2011 warned the firms to improve their services or face sanctions, Muoka said.