Quality of Service In Nepal

Global and Regional Precedents for Quality of Service Regulation

Kathmandu, Nepal 21 March, 2013

Scott Minehane (scott.minehane@windsor-place.com) Windsor Place Consulting

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

Global and regional exemplar markets

Service parameters for QoS Different markets approach QoS measurement and enforcement differently. However, each market tends broadly to focus on following QoS issues: !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! Number of complaints Resolution response time Service availability Coverage Call drop-outs Network congestion Time call set-up time Voice quality

Following slides provide overview of QoS measures and minimum standards for selected markets.

Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

Malaysia
Required standards for service
Regulation Number of billing complaints Description Total number of billing complaints received by a provider in a billing period. Calculation (Complaints received / total number of bills sent) x 100 See description. Required standard ! 2% of total number of bills issued in the billing period

Timeliness of complaints being resolved

Percentage of bill complaints resolved within a given time period.

90% of complaints resolved within 15 business days of receipt. 95% of complaints resolved within 30 business days of receipt.

Endpoint service availability

Percentage of effective calls that can be established and maintained between two cellular mobile access devices.

(Total number of attempted calls blocked calls dropped calls) / total attempted calls

"90% for both inter- and intra-network calls

Malaysia
Required standards for service (cont.)
Regulation Intra-network dropped calls Description Number of calls disconnected due to abnormal call release expressed as a percentage of all attempted intra-network calls. Total number of customer complaints in a given 12 month period in relation to total number of customers. Calculation See description. Required standard ! 5%

Customer complaints

(Total number of complaints received over a 12 month period x 1000) / Customer base over the same period. I.e. no more than 50 complaints per 1,000 customers per 12 month period.

! 0.5%

Malaysia
Required standards for service (cont.)
Regulation Standard operator speed of answer Description Time taken for service provider s operators to answer a call from a customer. Calculation Emergency calls answered within the given time frame as a percentage of total number of emergency calls received by the operator. Required standard 90% of all operator assisted emergency calls shall be answered within 10 seconds. 100% of all operator assisted emergency calls shall be answered within 20 seconds. !5%

Operator busy signal

Percentage of calls to the operator in a busy hour that encounter a busy signal.

Calls that encounter a busy signal during a busy hour expressed as a percentage of total number of calls during the busy hour.

Malaysia
QoS for wireless broadband access services in Malaysia In 2010 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission considered mandatory standards on QoS for both fixed and wireless broadband services to promote user-confidence. Commission provided recommendations on mandatory standards for: !! Billing performance !! Complaint handling, and !! Network performance It also provided recommendations on requirements for better user experience: !! Requirement for service providers to improve network infrastructure to maintain QoS level as required, and !! Modify packages offered to subscribers with pricing commensurate to attainable QoS Following slide shows standards and measurements based on MCMCs recommendations.

Global and regional exemplar markets

QoS parameters and measurement for wireless broadband
Parameter Billing performance Standard !Percentage of billing complaints shall not exceed 2% of total no. of bills issued in billing period. !90% of billing complaints to be resolved within 15 business days !95% of billing complaints to be resolved within 30 business days Number of customer complaints shall not exceed 50 complaints per 1,000 customers over one year !Network latency: Latency from broadband user to MyIX no more than 250ms 95% of time !Throughput: Throughput between broadband user and MyIX no less than 70% of subscribed level 70% of time (for uploading and downloading) !Packet loss: Packet loss no greater than 5% between broadband user and MyIX. Measurement (Total number of billing complaints in billing period x 100) / Total no. of bills in billing period

Complaint handling

(Number of complaints received over one year period x 1,000) / Customer base at end of reporting period !Network latency: Roundtrip delay for traffic from user to MyIX based on minimum standard packet size of 32 bytes. !Throughput: Data successfully moved to and from MyIX. !Packet loss: Packets lost between user and MyIX.

Network performance

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Global and regional exemplar markets

Progression of Malaysias QoS registered services (by date of effect)

! Public Switched Telephone Network ! Public Cellular Service ! Dial Up Internet Access Service ! Content Application Services

Updated Broadband Access Service Directive

Public inquiry into mandatory standards for fixed and wireless broadband access services

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Public Payphone Service ! Digital Leased Line Service ! Broadband Access Service

Updated Digital Leased Line Service Directive

www.skmm.gov.my/Sectors/Broadband/Quality-of-Service.aspx

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Malaysia
Enforcement Service providers are required to: ! ! Maintain complete and accurate records of any billing complaints they receive which are to be reported to the commission every half year. Maintain reports on compliance with the above regulations. The Authority (SKMM) may conduct audits on these reports to confirm their accuracy as well as conduct testing of performance characteristics to ensure they are being met. Authority also required to undertake its own testing of networks in order to check for compliance, with results published every half year by region.

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

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Singapore
Required standards for service
Regulation Coverage 1.! 2.! 3.! PSTN Call drop out rate 1.! 2.! 3.! Description Nationwide outdoor. Nationwide road and new MRT tunnels. Nationwide building interior. Across the entire month. During busy hour. During hour with worst performance. Across all cell locations. Across busiest cell location. For each cell locality. Calculation A signal strength of -100 dBm or greater required across minimum percentage of areas measured. Maximum percentage of calls terminated for reasons other than calling parties deliberately terminating them. The minimum percentage of calls from a calling party which are successfully switched through to the called party, or receive a busy tone when the called party is engaged speaking. 1.! 2.! 3.! 1.! 2.! 3.! Required standard >99% >99% >85% <1% <2% <2%

Success rate for PSTN / Mobile originated calls during busy hour

1.! 2.! 3.!

1.! 2.! 3.!

>99% >95% >70%

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Singapore
Monitored services with no enforced standards
Regulation Network availability 1.! 2.! 3.! Network congestion 1.! 2.! Description Total outage time (hours or minutes) in a month. No. of days with >15 minutes outage. Worst outage time in a 24hr period in a month. % of network congestion for the busiest cell during busy hour. % of cells with >5% reduced GOS during busy hour. Land to mobile calls. Mobile to land calls. Mobile to mobile calls. Calculation Measure of degree to which BSs / MSCs are operable and not in state of failure or outage at any given point of time. Measures downtime of BS and MSC over one month but excludes planned service downtime. Acceptable congestion level is when no more than 5% of cells experiencing reduced QoS during busy hours and/or at any one time.

Average call set up time

1.! 2.! 3.!

Total time from when final key is depressed by the caller to when a tone or signal from the network is received for successful connection. Complaints regarding coverage per 1,000 subscribers.

Complaints

Complaints regarding coverage of network service.

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Singapore
Enforcement ! Operators failing to comply with telecommunications QoS standards liable to pay financial penalty ranging from S$5,000 (US$4,000) to maximum of S$50,000 (US$40,000) for each instance of non-compliance. Authority (IDA) required to consider all relevant factors such as extent of impact of non-compliance, cause of non-compliance, efforts taken by service provider to meet QoS standards, and/or any challenges faced by service provider in meeting standards. Higher penalties may be imposed for serious failures and/or continuing or repeated breaches.

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Global and regional exemplar markets

QoS for wireless broadband services Mobile network is key delivery platform for broadband users. Given spectrum constraints and other technical considerations, important to monitor QoS and set standards where appropriate. Singapore for example introduced QoS standards for 3G mobile services in 2007. It then introduced enhanced standards for 3G in 2012 including: !! !! !! !! More More More More than than than than 99% 95% 99% 85% nationwide outdoor coverage coverage in existing tunnels for roads and subways coverage for new tunnels built after April 2012, and in-building coverage starting April 2013

Mobile operators have begun deployment of LTE services in Singapore. Infocom Development Authority intends to auction LTE spectrum by 2013, which will include similar requirements for QoS.

www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/bb-annualreport2012.pdf

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

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Pakistan
Required standards for service
Regulation Network Accessibility Description Probability that mobile services are available to an end customer by display of network indicator on mobile test equipment throughout the entire duration of the sample. Probability that mobile services are not available to end customer. Probability that end customer cannot access mobile services when requested if it is offered by display of network indicator on mobile equipment. Calculation Amount of network availability time expressed as percentage of total time. Required standard > 99%

Network Downtime

Amount of network nonavailability time expressed as percentage of total time. Number of unsuccessful calls expressed as percentage of total calls attempted.

< 1%

Grade of Service

! 2%

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Pakistan
Required standards for service
Regulation Description Calculation Required Standard ! 5 Seconds for a local M-M call for a nonroamer

Call Connection Time

Time between sending of complete call initiation information by caller and receipt of call setup notification. Probability that a service, once obtained, will continue to be provided under given conditions for a given time or until deliberately terminated by either party. Degree of speech quality that a listener perceives at the terminal with talker at other end.

Time at which connection is established less time at which the caller presses the final key.

Call completion ratio

Total number of calls intentionally terminated by end user expressed as percentage of total number of successful calls.

>98%

End to end speech quality

Measurement to be based on PESQ Algorithm (ITU-T P.862) or subsequent standards as adopted by the authority.

Mean Opinion Score > 3

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Pakistan
Required standards for service
Regulation SMS success rate Description Probability that short message service is delivered successfully end-to-end when requested and display of relevant information on the mobile equipment. Time between sending a short message to a short message center and receiving the very same short message at intended mobile terminal. Calculation Total number of successful SMS messages expressed as percentage of the total number of SMS message attempts. Required Standard > 99%

SMS end to end delivery time

See description.

! 12 Seconds

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Pakistan
Enforcement Telecommunications service providers are required to: ! ! ! Take measurements of their performance in relation to standards listed above each month. Prepare report of these measurements and required to give both overall and detailed overview of performance. Submit these measurement reports to the authority (PTA) quarterly for analysis and auditing.

Additionally, authority is required by regulations to conduct inspections, surveys, tests and surprise tests, and to conduct quality audits in order to ensure required QoS standards are being met by provider.

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

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India
Required standards for service
Regulation Network Availability 1.! 2.! Connection Establishment (Accessibility) 1.! 2.! 3.! Description BTS and Node B accumulated downtime (not available for service). Worst affected BTS and Node B due to downtime. Call set-up success rate (within licensee s own network). SDCCH / Paging channel / RRC congestion. TCH and Circuit Switched RAB Congestion. Call and circuit switched voice (CSV) drop rate. Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH and CSV drop (call drop) rate. Connections with good voice / CSV quality. Point of Interconnection (POI) Congestion (on individual POI). Calculation Averaged over one month. Required standard 1.! 2.! ! 2% ! 2%

Averaged over one month.

1.! 2.! 3.!

" 95% ! 1% ! 2%

Connection Maintenance (Retainability)

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.!

Averaged over one quarter.

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.!

! < " !

2% 3% 95% 0.5%

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India
Required standards for service
Regulation Metering and billing credibility 1.! 2.! Description Post paid. Pre-paid. 1.! 2.! Calculation Averaged over one billing cycle. Averaged over one quarter. 1.! 2.! Required standard No more than 0.1% of bills should be disputed over a billing cycle No more than 1 complaint per 1000 customers for metering, charging, credit or validity

Resolution of billing / charging complaints

Length of time taken to resolve billing or charging complaints from customers. Length of time taken to apply remedies which resolve customer complaints.

Averaged over one quarter.

100% within 4 weeks.

Period of applying credit / waiver / adjustment to customer s account from the date of resolution of complaint

Averaged over one quarter.

Within 1 week of resolution of complaint.

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India
Required standards for service
Regulation Response time to the customer for assistance 1.! 2.! Description Accessibility of call centre / customer care. Percentage of calls answered by operators (voice to voice) within 60 seconds. Calculation Averaged over one quarter. Required standard 1.! 2.! "95% "90%

Termination/ closure of services Time taken for refund of deposits after closures Service coverage Signal strength available to customers indoors at street level and in vehicles.

Averaged over one quarter. Averaged over one quarter.

! 7 days

100% within 60 days.

! !

" -75 dBm indoors " -85 dBm in vehicle

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India
Enforcement It is possible for higher standards than those listed to be part of license requirements, in which case they supersede the listed standards. Service providers are required to: ! ! ! ! Measure service coverage through drive tests of cellular mobile telephone network at periodic intervals. Take remedial action to address problems related to coverage including interference, call dropping and voice quality revealed during these tests. Maintain records of tests and action taken in relation to any problems found in the tests. Provide these records to the Authority (TRAI) or its agents or representatives on demand.

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India
Enforcement (cont.) TRAI has power to conduct drive tests of its own volition to determine whether service providers are complying with regulations. In cases where breaches are found, service providers are required to provide compliance report demonstrating how they intend to rectify the issues and expected timeframe. TRAI may conduct surveys of customers in order to determine level of compliance with certain forms of customer satisfaction, e.g. provision of services, billing performance, network reliability and availability. TRAI has power to impose financial penalties for the breach of network quality regulations of up to INR50,000 (US$900) for first offences and INR100,000 (US $1800) for second offences, and up to INR50,000 per breach of customer service quality regulations. Failure to provide compliance report can result in fine of up to INR5,000 (US$90) per day.

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

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Bangladesh
Required standards for service Bangladesh utilises an alternative system to the other exemplar nations. QoS requirements are included in individual licenses rather than a blanket series of standards being applied nationwide. These requirements will normally include: !! !! !! !! !! !! Call set-up Success Rate, Call Drop Rate, Call Setup Time (in seconds), Channel Gain, Static Signal to Noise Ratio, and Mean Customer Opinion Score.

Authority (BTRC) can set the minimum standards which must be achieved and any other benchmarks or targets which it deems should be part of a specific license.

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Bangladesh
Enforcement BTRC is empowered to issue enforcement orders to ensure compliance with provisions of the Telecommunications Act and, in appropriate cases, to impose administrative fines in relation to QoS under article 31(n) of the Act. BTRC requires operators to maintain records of their compliance with QoS standards and to submit reports for auditing. BTRC also conducts its own testing to monitor compliance with benchmarks and standards for QoS.

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Agenda

1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.!

Global and regional exemplar markets Malaysia Singapore Pakistan India Bangladesh Conclusion

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Conclusion
Different jurisdictions have different ways of measuring and enforcing QoS parameters. However, each market will commonly cover five key areas. Different standards and measures will apply for each area. Customer service !! Billing !! Complaints !! Customer resolution Quality of service !! Signal to noise !! Quality of voice Coverage !! Indoor coverage !! Outdoor coverage !! Roads, tunnels, etc. Connection !! Call connection !! Call completion !! Call set-up time !! Success rate Availability !! Network availability !! Service availability !! Network congestion !! Network downtime

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Thank You
I am happy to answer any questions

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