In the frame of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority’s “NTRA” keenness on improving the quality of telecom services provided to citizens, The NTRA subordinate National Telecommunication Center for Quality of Service Monitoring, has today issued its report on the fourth quarter measures (Q4) of 2020 (from October to December 2020).
The report covers the voice and internet service quality indicators as provided by the telecom operators working in the Egyptian market; whereas measuring tests were conducted on mobile phone service quality, over 81 cities and districts. During the last quarter of 2020, technical capacities were boosted to conduct field measures, with an aim to achieve the third administrative level at roads, cities, and districts. This procedure resulted in doubling the data transfer and voice quality samples, using measure vehicles for distances of about 35 thousand kilometers per month.
Doubling the data and voice measuring sample
Voice quality measuring sample increased in December with 103 thousand samples per month, compared to 66,500 in October, by a rate of 55%. Moreover, data transfer measuring sample increased from 3.5 million in October to 6 million in December by a rough rate of 72%.
Below is the total number of cities and districts where voice service quality issues were monitored in Q4 of 2020
Vodafone: 35 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have voice service quality issues; with Cairo on top followed by Delta, Upper Egypt and Alexandria, after conducting the measuring tests.
Orange: 37 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have voice service quality issues; with Delta on top followed by Alexandria, Cairo, and the Suez Canal, after conducting the measuring tests.
Etisalat: 45 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have voice service quality issues; with Upper Egypt on top followed by Delta, Cairo, and Alexandria, after conducting the measuring tests.
WE: 49 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have voice service quality issues; with Cairo on top followed by Upper Egypt, Delta, and Alexandria, after conducting the measuring tests.
- Voice service quality measure indicators:
- Call block index:
The total number of areas reported to have voice service quality issues, with regard to call block:
- 64 areas in October divided as follow: (13 areas for Vodafone – 17 areas for Orange, 19 areas for Etisalat, 15 areas for WE)
- 72 areas in November divided as follow: (16 areas for Vodafone – 15 areas for Orange, 18 areas for Etisalat, 23 areas for WE)
- 66 areas in December divided as follow: (9 areas for Vodafone – 18 areas for Orange, 12 areas for Etisalat, 27 areas for WE)
A noticeable improvement in the total number of areas which have call block issues, with regard to Etisalat, was reported over those three months. Meanwhile, the total number of affected areas with regard to WE increased over the course of the same three months.
- Call voice quality index:
The total number of areas reported to have voice service quality issues, with regard to call voice:
- 27 areas in October divided as follow: (13 areas for Vodafone –7 areas for Orange, 4 areas for Etisalat, 3 areas for WE)
- 13 areas in November divided as follow: (10 areas for Vodafone – one area as for Etisalat and 2 areas for WE)
- 14 areas in December divided as follow: (9 areas for Vodafone – 3 areas for Etisalat and 2 areas for WE)
A noticeable improvement in the total number of areas which have call voice issues, with respect to Orange, was reported over those three months. Meanwhile, the total number of affected areas with respect to Vodafone increased over the course of the same three months.
- Call incompleteness index:
The total number of areas reported to have voice service quality issues, with regard to call incompleteness:
- 7 areas in October divided as follow: (2 areas for Vodafone –one area for Orange, 2 areas for Etisalat and 2 areas for WE)
- 19 areas in November divided as follow: (2 areas for Vodafone – 2 areas for Orange – 14 areas for Etisalat and one area for WE)
- 18 areas in December divided as follow: (2 areas for Orange – 10 areas for Etisalat and 6 areas for WE).
Furthermore, the number of areas reported to suffer from call incompleteness, with respect to Etisalat and WE, increased in December compared to October.
Below is the total number of cities and districts where data download service quality issues were monitored in Q4 of 2020
Vodafone: 3 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have data download quality issues; with Cairo on top followed by Delta, after conducting the measuring tests.
Orange: One area only, out of 81, was monitored to have data download quality issues; which is Upper Egypt, after conducting the measuring tests.
Etisalat: 4 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have data download quality issues; with Giza on top followed by Delta and the Suez Canal, after conducting the measuring tests.
WE: 19 cities and districts, out of 81, were monitored to have data download quality issues; with Cairo and Giza on top followed by Delta and Alexandria, after conducting the measuring tests.
- Download: Data download speed measuring index
- Average data download speed
Average download speed of the four operators was noticeably slow within December, compared to October, as follow:
- Vodafone data download average speed witnessed a decline in December with 23 Mbps/ second, compared to 23 Mbps/ second back in October
- Orange data download average speed witnessed a decline in December with 18 Mbps/ second, compared to 28 Mbps/ second back in October
- WE data download average speed witnessed a decline in December with 20 Mbps/ second, compared to 24 Mbps/ second back in October
- Number of areas reported to have a download speed of less than 5 Mbps/ second was 10% out of measuring samples)
The total number of areas reported to have poor data download service was 78 in October, 147 in November, and 153 in December, whereas the number of areas, where Vodafone had the poorest rates, was actually the largest over the course of those three months.
Procedures taken by NTRA to raise the service quality level for users:
- Conducting a poll to evaluate mobile phone services and measure the user-satisfaction
NTRA developed methodologies and service quality measuring approaches encompassing the market’s two main players (user and operator). To this end, NTRA regularly measures the technical and technological evaluation indicators of operators on a monthly basis, and for the first time, it conducts a poll among mobile phone users in cooperation with a global market research agency. This poll aims to figure out the opinion of users concerning the service quality, with the purpose of identifying the real customer satisfaction levels and connecting them to the findings of the quality report.
Q4 measures of 2020 includes technical quality measure report, in addition to the first report on mobile phone-user poll, within the time period between October to December 2020.
2. Developing a free line transfer system, available for 24 hours.
NTRA developed a line-transfer system among operators in June 2020. Such a system enables mobile phone users to switch among networks, for free and within 24 hours only, while keeping their line number. In fact, this procedure aimed to facilitate transactions for citizens and reduce the time required for switching operators. This also enables the user to switch to the best network according to the geographic distribution of service quality level, which is regularly published on quality reports. It is worth noting that such a procedure resulted in a more successful process for line transfer with 95%, whereas 110 thousand lines were transferred among different operators during the last quarter of 2020 compared to 5 thousand lines within the same period in 2019.
3. Launching new frequencies for telecom service providers
Using TDD technology for the first time, NTRA launched additional frequencies for telecom service providers in the Egyptian market. Such frequencies depend on data upload and download in one frequential band, through Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), instead of FDD technology that works via double band to separate between sending and receiving. This approach achieves the utmost benefits of using frequential spectrums in data transfer, with regard to speed and capacity.
These new proposals and modern technologies contribute to achieving a quantum leap in service quality for users, as data transfer speed using the new frequencies are expected to increase by 70%, compared to the current speed of networks at covered areas.
4. Issuing a licensing frame for the establish and lease of cell sites
- With NTRA’s role to ensure high quality telecom services, a new regulatory frame was issued for launching new licenses with respect to the establish and lease of wireless cell sites
NTRA is also liaising with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities to ensure a rapid issuance of cell sites licenses.