Telenor and Zong Failed to Achieve the Desired Threshold in Rural Areas

Telenor, Zong and Ufone have missed most of the key performance indicators (KPIs) set in their license and applicable regulations, revealed an independent quality of service survey carried out by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

PTA has released the findings of independent survey carried out independent in the 3rd & 4th Quarter 2019 to check Quality of Service (QoS) of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) from September to December 2019 in twelve (12) different cities of Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Azad Jammu Kashmir. The names of these cities are Abbottabad, Charsadda, Gujranwala, Murree, Muzaffarabad, Sargodha, Sibbi, Sukkur, Thatta, Swabi, TandoAllahYar and Taxila.

The performance of data services of CMOs has been checked by measuring User Data Throughput and Signal Strength (i.e. Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) for 3G and Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) for 4G.

Telenor and Zong Failed to Achieve the Desired Threshold in Rural Areas

The signal strength KPI defines Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) for 3G and Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) for 4G and denotes the power measured by a receiver on a particular physical communication channel. It is used as an indication of signal strength, as a handover criterion, in downlink power control, and to calculate path loss”. RSCP of 3G Network of all CMOs observed to be greater than -100 dBm with 90 percent confidence.  RSRP of 4G Network of falls short of the minimum threshold (-100 dBm with 90 percent confidence) both in urban and rural areas. Telenor and ZonG failed to achieve the desired threshold in Rural Areas.

Grade of Service is probability that the end customer cannot access the mobile services when requested if it is offered by display of the network indicator on the mobile phone. In simple words, Grade of Service is Network Blocking”. Telenor failed to meet this threshold value (Threshold: ≤ 2%) in both rural and urban areas. Ufone was unable to achieve the desired threshold in urban areas.

Service Accessibility is the probability that the user can access the desired service. A given network accessibility is a precondition for this phase. Telenor failed to achieve the criteria (Threshold: > 98%) of Service Accessibility in both urban and rural areas.

Call Connection Time is the time between sending of complete call initiation information by the caller and in return receipt of call setup notification. In simple words, it is time between dialing a number and hearing ring-back tone.  ZonG failed to achieve the benchmark (Threshold:  ≤ 6.5 sec) of Call Connection Time of 6.5 seconds.

Call Completion Ratio is the probability that a service, once obtained, will continue to be provided under given conditions for a given time duration or until deliberately terminated by either caller (A-party) or receiver (B-party). In simple words, this KPI provides information about Call Drops. Telenor failed to meet threshold value of 98 percent.

Inter System Handover is the measurement of successfulness of Handover in 3G/2G for Circuit Switched Voice. Ufone failed to meet the threshold value of 98% in urban areas. ZonG failed to meet the threshold value of 98% in rural areas.

The performance of SMS services of CMOs has been checked by measuring SMS Success Rate and End-to-End SMS Delivery Time Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

SMS Success Rate is the probability that the short message is delivered successfully, end-to-end when requested and display of the relevant information on the mobile phone. It provides information about successful delivery of SMS. SMS Success Rate of Telenor and Ufone were observed below 99 percent in urban areas.

User Data Throughput KPI defines user data rate (Internet speed) to be provided by CMOs to mobile users across the coverage areas. CMOs User data “throughput” of 3G services found higher than the threshold value of 256Kbps. CMOs User data “throughput” of 4G services found higher than the threshold value of 2Mpbs.

The performance of voice services of CMOs has been checked by measuring Network Down Time/Network Accessibility, Grade of Service, Service Accessibility, Call Connection Time, Call Completion Ratio, End-to-End Speech Quality and Session Abnormal Release Rate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Network Accessibility. “The probability that mobile services are available to an end customer display of the network indicator on the mobile equipment”. CMOs have met the threshold value of Network Accessibility. End-to-End Speech Quality is the degree of speech quality that a listener perceives at the terminal/mobile with a talker at the other end. In simple words, it provides information about clarity of voice. Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of CMOs found above the threshold value of 3.

End-to-End SMS Delivery Time is the time between sending a short message to a short message center and receiving the very same short message at intended mobile phone (receiver). It provides average time taken for delivery of short message from sender to recipient. All CMOs are meeting the threshold for End-to-End SMS Delivery Time of 12 Seconds.

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