Telcos Again Fail to Meet Key Performance Indicators For Quality of Service

The cellular mobile operators (CMOs) have missed some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) set in their licenses and the applicable regulations with respect to webpage loading time, voice, and latency, an independent survey about the quality of service (QoS) carried out by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has revealed.

To measure the performance and service quality of CMOs, an independent QoS Survey has been carried out in seventeen (17) cities of, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan, and Sindh during the 4th Quarter i.e. October-December 2023.

The QoS survey was carried out using Automated QoS Monitoring & Benchmarking Tool i.e. “SMARTBENCHMARKER”. Drive test teams selected survey routes in such a manner as to cover main roads, service roads, and the majority of sectors/colonies. During the survey, mobile handsets for Voice Calls, SMS, and Mobile Broadband/Data Sessions were kept in technology auto-detect mode.

As per Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses, licensees are required to meet the threshold of -100 dBm or above of Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) with a 90 percent confidence level. However, only Ufone was fully compliant, while other CMOs were found to be partially compliant.

As per Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021, licensees are required to meet a Webpage Loading Time threshold of 5 Seconds. However, only Jazz and Zong were found fully compliant.

As per Regulations 2021, licensees are required to meet the threshold of 75 milliseconds of 4G/LTE Technology & 150 milliseconds of 3G Technology of Latency, however, no CMO was found fully compliant.

The 7 x QoS KPIs (i.e. Network Accessibility, Call Setup Success Rate, Call Setup Time, Call Completion Rate, Mean Opinion Score, Inter System Handover Success Rate & RAB Setup Success Rate) have been measured while testing voice services in 17 x surveyed cities of Pakistan. However, only Zong was found fully compliant.

In addition, the Ookla Speed Test was also carried out to measure Download and Upload User Data Throughput and Round-Trip Time/Latency. Only Jazz was found fully compliant on Ookla Latency in Technology Auto Detect Mode.

With respect to Voice KPI a total of 20,485 Call attempts were made and out of which 339 were failed attempts. In 20,146 successful call attempts, 143 calls dropped prior to completion of two minutes duration, whereas, 20,003 calls remained connected for the complete duration of two minutes.

A total of 20,433 SMS sending attempts were conducted, out of which A-Party successfully transmitted 20,372 SMS while 20,203 SMS were successfully received at B-Party. However, no CMO achieved a full success rate.

The PTA issued necessary instructions to the operators for taking corrective measures so as to ensure improvement in the service quality up to the standards.