CRA Publishes Results of Quality of Service audit of mobile networks 2018

The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has published on its website the summary results report of an extensive audit of mobile networks that was conducted from October to December 2018. CRA conducted this audit to assess the improvements of the Quality of Service (QoS) levels of voice calls, short message service (SMS) and data service offered by “Ooredoo” and “Vodafone Qatar”.

The audit benchmarked some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) set by the CRA. The samples for the network audit was conducted during busy hours on working days in different areas, streets and highways, major pedestrian areas and several indoor locations. 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 connected through CRA’s National Monitoring Center.

The audit results indicate that the service providers continue in maintaining the high standards of accessibility, retainability and integrity of the services offered to its consumers and has improved their capability of providing higher data throughputs from the previous year. The additional spectrum provided by CRA last year for advanced Fourth Generation (4G) has contributed to improving the consumer’s experience in general.

“The audit was conducted in accordance with CRA’s mandate to regulate the telecommunications sector. CRA develops related regulatory instruments, grants service providers with the needed licenses and then monitors their compliance with the conditions of these licenses at the aim of ensuring the sector development and the provision of high quality services for all the consumers in Qatar,” said His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al-Mannai, President of CRA. “I would like to thank the service providers for their contribution to supporting Qatar’s digital transformation. The high competitiveness among service providers in the mobile market has resulted in this significant development of the quality of services provided in Qatar, which has had a positive and direct impact on the users’ experience of these services,” he added.

CRA said in its statement that it appreciates the efforts made by the service providers for the incessant initiatives in providing the latest technology to consumers in Qatar. CRA also expressed its keenness to support the service providers by issuing the spectrum licenses that ensure the availability of various mobile technologies throughout the country at the earliest. It worth to mention that CRA has issued radio spectrum licenses for Fifth Generation (5G) by end of last year, which gave Qatar’s service providers the lead in the deployment of the 5G networks in the world.

CRA affirmed that the purpose of the audit was not to identify the best network or for any comparison between the service providers in Qatar, but was to ensure that the QoS provided by the service providers in Qatar is consistent with the standards and conditions of the licenses granted to them and with the applicable regulatory framework. Therefore, the audit’s results should not be used for any purpose that does not serve the required value of the report, or for promoting the best service provider. Service providers should not take a part or parts of the report to be used in manner that might offend another service provider, or for other promotional purposes that may be misleading or inaccurate.

The summary of the results report of QoS audit 2018 is available via CRA’s website www.cra.gov.qa.