The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has published its quarterly quality of service monitoring report of voice services offered by Cell C, MTN, Telkom and Vodacom in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
According to ICASA, quality of service monitoring serves to identify shortcomings in the services offered by the mobile operators and promotes redress for consumer benefit.
The authority used a drive test to collect samples for the report, and a TEMS Symphony benchmarking tool was used to collect the data.
The focus of the drive test was on network performance in terms of accessibility and retention of voice calls. The metric used to measure the above were call setup success rate (CSSR) and drop call rate (DCR).
In terms of the end-user and subscriber service charter regulations of 2016, the DCR should be less than 3% and CSSR should be greater than 95%.
For the KwaZulu-Natal service report, ICASA conducted monitoring during February in Cato Ridge, Pietermaritzburg, Richmond, Mpophomeni and Howick, covering a total distance of 2 574km.
The report reveals: "For retainability key performance indicators (KPIs), which are expressed as average drop call rate, Vodacom met the target in KwaZulu-Natal.
"All other operators, namely Cell C, MTN, and Telkom, did not meet the target of below 3%.
"The accessibility KPIs, expressed as average call setup success rate, MTN and Telkom met the average target but Vodacom and Cell C did not meet the target of above 95%."
Lagging behind
In Limpopo, the measurements for the monitoring report were carried out in April by drive testing and covered a total distance of 3 359km.
According to the ICASA report, the measurements were conducted in areas where mobile service usage is likely to be accessed.
The sampled areas include Ga-Riba/Ga-Nkoana, Tzaneen, Hoedspruit, Modjadjiskloof and Bela-Bela.
The sample results show: "Telkom did not meet the retainability KPI and other operators Cell C, MTN, and Vodacom met the target of below 3%.
"All the operators did not meet the accessibility target of 95%."
Looking at Telkom's performance in Limpopo, ICASA says the telco needs to improve its drop call rate.
"The results indicate that in terms of call setup success rate, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom performance is very close to each other, while in terms of drop call rate performance, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C were very close to each other."
According to ICASA, Telkom notes the lack of 900MHz spectrum is a challenge for providing rural coverage and it relies on MTN roaming to provide services to consumers in areas it did not have coverage.
"The high dropped call rate was due to lack of seamless handover between its own network and MTN's network."
The report notes ICASA afforded all affected operators the opportunity to comment on the areas of concern highlighted by the report and requested them to provide the cause and remedial plans.
"The authority has noted all comments received and will encourage remedial plans to be executed for the benefit of consumers."
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