The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has completed an extensive audit of mobile networks to benchmark the coverage of 2G, 3G and 4G networks in the State of Qatar and the Quality of Service (QoS) levels offered by “Ooredoo” and “Vodafone Qatar”. The audit was conducted from May 2017 to December 2017.
The audit benchmarked some of the Key performance Indicators (KPI) of the services like voice calls, short message service (SMS) and data service offered by the service providers. The network audit was conducted during busy hours on working days and assessed the quality of coverage of both service providers in different areas, streets and highways, major pedestrian areas and several indoor locations. Samples of coverage were also collected from different roads of the country including frequently accessed off road routes popularly used for fishing and camping seasons.
To complete the audit CRA used technologically advanced state of the art measurement tools with the latest post processing software, devices and smartphones installed on dedicated monitoring vehicles which are centrally monitored and controlled from CRA’s Network Monitoring Centre. The audit results indicate improvement from audits conducted by CRA in the previous years for both service providers. CRA’s findings are summarized based on large sample sizes for each KPI. The Summary of the 2017 Network Audit finding can be found in CRA’s website.
CRA will continue to monitor the network performance of both service providers on a regular basis in the coming years, and is currently in the process of establishing a robust QoS Framework that will ensure that the services provided to consumers in Qatar are among the best in the world. The framework will include certain KPIs to ensure the provision of high quality, and reliable telecommunications services to the people of Qatar and that the service providers are in compliance with the regulatory framework.
Categories: