Quality of Service Policy Development Implications to sector transformation in Africa

Transcription

1 Quality of Service Policy Development Implications to sector transformation in Africa

2 ICT Quality of Service Fixed and Mobile Telecom (old world QoS) Successful call rate, Dial tone rate, Fault Clearance Rate; Connection Rate and Public Call Offices in Working Order Broadband (new world Qos) upload speed, download speed Latency, jitter Packet loss Spectrum efficiency Support services for broadband connectivity in public, private and community outlets

3 The Broadband Quality of Service imperative Broadband facilitates access to economic opportunities and social welfare that were previously inaccessible to the poor health, education, agriculture and environment depend heavily on access to latest information Broadband creates opportunities to tap into global markets (BPO, markets for products and goods, diaspora market )

4 Broadband QoS Virtuous Circle Broadband demand and investment Economic growth, competitive ness Broadband use for innovation and socioeconomic application Growing use of Internet applications and services Better broadband performanc e

5 QoS is becoming a critical issue Citizens need to be connected to a fast, reliable, and affordable communications infrastructure, Service interruptions need to be minimized on critical infrastructure (users from banks, utilities to health centers are increasingly dependent on Internet for services) Measuring the performance and quality of services of broadband is essential to invest in broadband, protect consumer rights, ensure that the telecommunications sector is functional

6 New Qos policy areas Broadband Network Performance Speed and data rate- a specified speed or speed range that will be provided to the customer System uptime average percentage of service up-time. Latency average end-to-end delays to a sample of sites on the Internet. Jitter variability in latency Spectrum efficiency availability, licensing Network cost, support, compliant handling Support services for broadband connectivity in public, private and community outlets Cost - a detailed description of the cost of the service, and the billing period, Customer service - list of customer services contacts, and average support call wait time.

7 Trends in Africa Old network QoS such as call completion rate, fault clearance rate, on fixed and mobile networks are not yet resolved. Users continue to suffer from low quality of services, operators incur a significant revenue loss as high as 40% due to low quality of service (e.g. Ethiopia) Consumers are not getting the speeds that ISPs are promising them Mobile broadband connections are outperforming fixed broadband making quality service on wireless network a significant area of regulatory intervention Speed is not the only limiting factor on performance; rather latency also plays a huge part in affecting the consumers broadband experience.

8 Other factors Outdated equipment such as old switches due to low level of network upgrade in the region Low level of network coverage in particular limited access to submarine cable and backbone network Oversubscription of limited bandwidth Africa Mobile coverage Source GSMA

9 Trends in Africa Broadband performance is dependent on other supportive infrastructure like electricity Africa by night mpa Africa Internet activity map

10 Policy recommendations Policy makers need to address support infrastructure like electricity and road as part of broadband expansion vice versa Regulators should continue to monitor traditional quality of service on mobile and fixed networks and redress consumer concerns Broadband performance should be monitored regularly (annually) so that policymakers can make informed decisions Broadband strategies should include quality of service targets Regulators and policy makers need to facilitate private investment in local server infrastructure and services to reduce the detrimental effects of factors such as latency on the end user experience