NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY

Transcription

1 Content NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY Quality of Service (QoS) Monitoring of Cellular Mobile Voice Services CENTRAL REGION [May June 2015] [Communications for Development]

2 Table of Contents 1. Background 2 2. What we measure 2 3. Findings Remedies 8 5. Coverage Signal Strength 9-33 Page 1 of 34

3 Background In pursuance of Annexure D1 and D2 of the Cellular Mobile Licence of Telecommunication Operators, the consumer perspective of the quality of voice services are tested to ensure the compliance of Operators to the obligations on service quality to the user. The report is based on findings on quality of service in Central region from May to June 2015 for all Operators except for Expresso due to their technical challenges. What we measure The Quality of Service monitoring system measures many parameters including coverage signal strength and voice quality. These parameters are in the 3G licence, a complementary licence to the Cellular Mobile Licence. The Voice Quality is measured by an ITU standard P.863 fondly called (POLQA) Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment. As per the Cellular Mobile licence obligations, the QoS indicators and their respective threshold for compliance under assessment considering the user s perspective are as below; Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Congestion Rate Call Setup Time (CST) Call Congestion Rate Call Drop Rate ( CDR) Voice Call Audio Quality Coverage Signal Strength Page 2 of 34

4 Findings The results for the cities and towns tested during the period are as below: a) Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Congestion Rate SDCCH Congestion Rate should be equal or less than one per cent (1%). SDCCH Congestion is defined as the probability of failure of accessing a stand-alone dedicated control channel during call set up. For analysis and calculations, SDCCH Congestion % Number of connect fails duetoimmediate AssignmentFailures MOC call attempts 100% Table 1. Signalling Congestion Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015 Month JUNE City/Town Kasoa MTN 0 Vodafone 0 Tigo 0 Airtel 0 Glo 0 JUNE Swedru JUNE Winneba JUNE Elmina JUNE Cape Coast JUNE Ajumako JUNE Saltpond JUNE Twifo Praso JUNE Assin Fosu REMARK: All Operators were in compliance in tested cities and towns with the signalling congestion threshold of less than 1 percent (1%). Page 3 of 34

5 b) Call Setup Time (CST) CST should be less than ten seconds (<10secs) in 95% of cases. Call Setup Time is the period of time elapsing from the sending of a complete destination address (target telephone number) to the setting up of a call to the receiving terminal; Call set - up time s t alerting signal t address sending t Moment when an alerting signal is sent to the called terminal alerting signal t address sending Moment user presses the SEND button on the calling terminal Table 2. Call Setup Time of Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015 Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel Glo JUNE Kasoa JUNE Swedru JUNE Winneba JUNE Elmina JUNE Cape Coast JUNE Ajumako JUNE Saltpond JUNE Twifo Praso No network JUNE Assin Fosu REMARK: All Operators except TIGO failed to meet the parameter threshold in certain localities. Page 4 of 34

6 c) Call Congestion Rate Traffic Channel Congestion should be equal or less than one per cent (1%). Call Congestion Rate is the probability of failure of accessing a traffic channel during call setup; Call Congestion Number of Connect failed calls Total number of call attempts % 100% Table 3. Call Congestion Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015 Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel Glo JUNE Kasoa JUNE Swedru JUNE Winneba JUNE Elmina JUNE Cape Coast JUNE Ajumako JUNE Saltpond JUNE Twifo Praso No network JUNE Assin Fosu REMARK: All operators except Tigo remained compliant with the licence threshold of less than one percent (1%) in all the tested locations. There is high traffic congestion on Tigo at Cape Coast and Elmina. Page 5 of 34

7 d) Call Drop Rate ( CDR) Call drop rate should be equal or less than three per cent (3%). Voice Call Drop Rate is the probability of a call terminating without any of the users will; Drop Rate Number of calls terminated unwillingly Total number of call attempts % 100% Table 4. Call Drop Rate Cellular Mobile Voice Service, May-June 2015 Month City/Town MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel Glo JUNE Kasoa JUNE Swedru JUNE Winneba JUNE Elmina JUNE Cape Coast JUNE Ajumako JUNE Saltpond JUNE Twifo Praso JUNE Assin Fosu REMARK: All operators were in compliance with the Call Drop Rate licence threshold of less than three percent (3%) in all localities tested. Page 6 of 34

8 Voice Call Audio Quality - perceptibility of the conversation during a call. Voice Call Audio Quality is measured using a parameter called the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) which categorizes speech samples in ranges from 1 to 5. See legend below. This parameter is machine measured. Table 5. Speech Quality Mean Opinion Score Central Region, May-June 2015 Central Region MTN Vodafone Tigo Airtel Glo MOS REMARK: Vodafone and Glo were assessed to give GOOD speech quality. MTN, Airtel and Tigo were assessed to give FAIR speech quality. Page 7 of 34

9 REMEDIES The NCA has notified Operators of publication of these findings and has directed all Operators in improve their coverage in some localities by December Tigo has been directed to cure the traffic congestion at Cape Coast and Elmina, and also sanctioned for violating its TCH Congestion obligation in Central Region. Page 8 of 34

10 COVERAGE SIGNAL STRENGTH COVERAGE AND SPEECH MAPS The Maps below show the coverage level and speech quality in various towns where monitoring was performed. The coverage map is a combination of both 2G and 3G network signal strength. In each plot is a legend to indicate definitions of signal strength and quality range attain by operators during measurement. Coverage levels in green falls in the rage of -85dBm and above are considered good. Those between -85 and -95dBm are considered fair and are indicated in yellow. The red samples represent poor coverage in the range of -95 to -110dBm. The black samples represent areas with no coverage. The speech quality was assessed with Mean Opinion Score (MOS) which ranges from 5 to 1. Coverage Legend Colour Area Coverage Rating Good Coverage Areas Fair Coverage Areas Poor Coverage Areas None Existent Coverage Areas Page 9 of 34

11 APPENDIX I AIRTEL Fig. 1, Airtel Coverage, Ajumako June 2015 Airtel has a good coverage in Ajumako towards UCEW Campus but recorded very poor Coverage level at Enyan Denkyira and Esiam. Fig. 2, Airtel Coverage, Winneba, June 2015 Airtel has poor Coverage around the Beach, parts of north Campus, Taxi Rank and Low Cost areas. Page 10 of 34

12 Fig. 3, Airtel Coverage, Swedru, June 2015 Airtel has poor coverage around Afranse and Ekwamkrom area. Fig. 4, Airtel Coverage, Twifo Praso. June 2015 Airtel has good 2G coverage at Twifo Praso Page 11 of 34

13 Fig. 5, Airtel Coverage, Saltpond. June 2015 Good coverage in Saltpond with few spots of poor coverage Fig. 6, Airtel Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015 Poor Coverage in Kasoa Page 12 of 34

14 Fig. 7, Airtel Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015 Poor Coverage across Cape Coast Fig. 8, Airtel Coverage, Elmina. June 2015 Poor Coverage at Elmina Page 13 of 34

15 APPENDIX II VODAFONE Fig. 9, Vodafone coverage, Ajumako. June 2015 Good Coverage at Enyan Denkyira and Esam. However recorded poor coverage at parts of Ajumako township Fig. 10, Vodafone Coverage, Winneba. June 2015 Good Coverage at Winneba. However an improvement is needed around the South Campus area. Page 14 of 34

16 Fig. 11, Vodafone Coverage, Assin Fosu June 2015 Good coverage at Assin Fosu Fig. 12, Vodafone Coverage, Swedru. June 2015 Good coverage at Agona Swedru yet requires improvement at the outskirts Page 15 of 34

17 Fig. 13, Vodafone Coverage, Twifo Praso. June 2015 Good Coverage at Twifo Praso Fig. 14, Vodafone Coverage, Saltpond. June 2015 Vodafone coverage needs improvement at Saltpond Page 16 of 34

18 Fig.15, Vodafone Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015 Good Coverage at most parts of Kasoa. Coverage improvement is needed around the Millennium City and the Nyanano road area. Fig. 16, Vodafone Coverage, Cape Coast. June 2015 Good Coverage at parts of Cape Coast. However, Tantri, First Ridge and parts of Cape Vars has poor coverage. Page 17 of 34

19 Fig. 17, Vodafone Coverage, Elmina. June 2015 Poor Coverage in Elmina Town and Ankaful Junction. Page 18 of 34

20 APPENDIX III TIGO Fig. 18, Tigo Coverage, Ajumako. June 2015 Good 2G coverage Fig. 19, Tigo Coverage, Assin Fosu. June 2015 Poor coverage at the outskirts of Assin Fosu. Page 19 of 34

21 Fig. 20, Tigo Coverage, Cape Coast. June 2015 Good Coverage with spots of poor coverage around Ekon and CapeVars. Fig. 21, Tigo Coverage, Elmina. June 2015 Poor Coverage recorded around the Castle along to the Coconut Grove Resort and parts of the Takoradi Highway. Page 20 of 34

22 Fig. 22, Tigo Coverage, Kasoa. June 2015 Poor Coverage at north Kasoa Fig. 23, Tigo Coverage, Saltpond. June 2015 Good Coverage Page 21 of 34

23 Fig. 24, Tigo Coverage, Twifo Praso, June 2015 Poor Coverage at the outskirts of Twifo Praso Fig. 25, Tigo Coverage, Swedru. June 2015 Poor Coverage around Texaco and Afranse Page 22 of 34

24 Fig. 26, Tigo Coverage, Winneba, June 2015 Poor coverage at Low cost, North and South Campus and along the beach. Page 23 of 34

25 APPENDIX IV GLO Fig. 27, Glo Coverage, Ajumako, June 2015 Poor Coverage around Ajumako Town and Assasang. Fig. 28, Glo Coverage, Assin Fosu, June 2015 Good Coverage with improvement required at some parts of the town. Page 24 of 34

26 Fig. 29, Glo Coverage, Cape Coast, June 2015 Poor Coverage at Ola, Pedu and Ekon Fig. 30, Glo Coverage, Elmina, June 2015 Poor Coverage at some parts of Cape Coast- Takoradi highway and the Coconut Grove link to the Highway Page 25 of 34

27 Fig. 31, Glo Coverage, Kasoa, June 2015 Poor Coverage spots across Kasoa Fig. 32, Glo Coverage, Swedru, June 2015 Poor Coverage around Asafo, Ekomkrom and parts of the Afranse road Page 26 of 34

28 Fig. 33, Glo Coverage, Winneba, June 2015 Poor Coverage around Low Cost, North Campus, Winnesec Junction and Water works area. Page 27 of 34

29 APPENDIX V MTN Fig. 34, MTN Coverage, Ajumako, June 2015 Poor coverage at Enyan Denkyira and Esiam. Fig. 35, MTN Coverage, Assin Fosu, June 2015 Poor Coverage around Government Hospital area. Page 28 of 34

30 Fig. 36, MTN Coverage, Cape Coast, June 2015 Good Coverage with scattered spots of poor coverage. Fig. 37, MTN Coverage, Agona Swedru, June 2015 Poor Coverage at Afranse Page 29 of 34

31 Fig. 38, MTN Coverage, Twifo Praso, June 2015 Good Coverage Fig. 39, MTN Coverage, Winneba, June 2015 Poor Coverage at Low Cost, South Campus area and some few spots Page 30 of 34

32 APPENDIX VI SPEECH QUALITY FOR OPERATORS Figure 40 Airtel Speech Quality report in Central Region Figure 41 Vodafone Speech Quality report in Central Region Page 31 of 34

33 Figure 43 Tigo Speech Quality report in Central Region Figure 44 Glo Speech Quality report in Central Region Page 32 of 34

34 Figure 45 MTN Speech Quality report in Central Region Page 33 of 34