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Independent Communications Authority of South Africa Pinmill Farm, 164 Katherine Street, Sandton

Private Bag X10002, Sandton, 2146

Quality of Service Report:

KwaZulu-Natal Province

2015/2016 Quarter 4

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 2

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2

1.2 Drive Test Route Plan .................................................................................................................................. 3

2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................ 4

2.1 Drive Tests Equipment ................................................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Test Plan ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Computational Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 6

3 Results and Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 8

3.1 Parameter Targets ....................................................................................................................................... 8

3.2 Results .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

3.2.1 Accessibility Measurement Results ............................................................................................................. 8

3.2.2 Retainability Measurements Results ......................................................................................................... 10

3.3 KwaZulu-Natal Average Measurements Results ....................................................................................... 11

3.3.1 Average Accessibility measurement data results ...................................................................................... 11

3.3.2 Average Retainability measurement data results for KwaZulu-Natal Province ........................................ 12

3.3.3 Serving Technology Distribution ................................................................................................................ 13

4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 13

5 Appendix A (KwaZulu-Natal coverage maps) ..................................................................................................... 15

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1 Executive Summary

The Authority conducted Quality of Service (QoS) measurements on the networks of South

African mobile operators; Cell C, MTN, Telkom and Vodacom. The measurements were

performed to monitor performance of voice services being offered by the operators in

KwaZulu-Natal province. The measurements were carried out during February 2016 and

covered a total distance of 2574 kilometres of drive testing.

The purpose of collecting QoS measurements was to analyse and monitor the service quality

experienced by the end user of voice services offered by South Africas mobile operators

around targeted areas. Measurements were conducted in typical circumstances where

mobile service usage is likely to occur such as major towns, townships, farm areas, rural

areas and major road arteries as per population densities, economic and tourism activities

including historical complaints. The sampled areas includes Cato Ridge, Pietermaritzburg,

Howick, Mpophomeni and Richmond.

A vehicle equipped with TEM Symphony measurement tool was used to collect data, in order

to measure two main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which are Retainability and

Accessibility. The Drop Call Rate (DCR) parameter is used to measure Retainability and the

Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR) parameter measures Accessibility. According to the End-

User and Subscriber Service Charter regulations of 2016, DCR should be less than 3% and

CSSR should be greater than 98%.

In terms of the average results of the areas covered MTN and Telkom met the accessibility

target, while Vodacom and Cell C did not meet the accessibility target. Vodacom is the only

operator that met the average retainability target and all other operators (Telkom, MTN and

Telkom) did not met the average retainability target.

1.1 Introduction

The Authority conducted Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring of the GSM voice telephony

service being offered by Cell-C, MTN, Vodacom and Telkom within the KwaZulu-Natal

Province.

The KwaZulu-Natal is located in the south-east tip of South Africa bordering the Indian

Ocean. It also borders on the Eastern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga provinces, as well

as Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. It covers an area of 94 361 km and has a

population of approximately 10 267 300. It is the third-smallest province in South Africa by

surface area but has the second largest population size after Gauteng.1

1 http://www.localgovernment.co.za/provinces/view/1/eastern-cape

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Figure 1: Map of KwaZulu-Natal Province

QoS is defined as the collective effect of service performance that determines the degree of

satisfaction of a user of the service. QoS provides an indication of what the customer

experiences when using the mobile network and is evaluated in terms of Retainability and

Accessibility. Retainability is defined as the ability for a call to stay connected through to a

normal call tear-down process, without abnormally disconnecting from the cell site that

caries the call2. Accessibility is defined as the percentage of the number of times a user is

rejected due to the unavailability of system resources when attempting to place a call3.

The KPI parameters used to measure Retainability and Accessibility are Drop Call Rate (DCR)

and Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), respectively.

The test methodology adopted is the drive test sampling methodology which provides a

snapshot view of the mobile operators quality of service and provides a realistic picture of

network performance from a users point of view. It must be noted that drive test results do

not represent the mobile service provider's overall network performance. It is based on the

specified routes, at a particular time of day when the measurements were carried out using

a particular type of handset. All the test phones were allowed to select the network freely.

1.2 Drive Test Route Plan

The KwaZulu-Natal is divided into one metropolitan municipality, ten district municipalities

and further subdivided into 50 (fifty) local municipalities. The areas within eThekwini

Metropolitan Municipality and Umgungundlovu District Municipalities were covered during

the drive tests. The areas covered include farming areas, villages, rural towns, major towns, tourists

2 Annexure B.2 of ETSI EG 202 057-3 3 GSM 12.04, ETS 300 615.

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areas and connecting roads with the neighbouring towns and villages. All the measurements

were performed in the areas where all the operators claim to have network coverage. In

areas where Cell C and Telkom Mobile did not have own coverage they were allowed to roam

on their respective roaming partner.

Table 1: Drive Test routes

Test Type District/Metropolitan Municipality Route Name Dates

Accessibility

and

Retainability

eThekwini Metropolitan Cato Ridge 01/02/2016

16/02/2016

Umgungundlovu and Sisonke Pietermaritzburg

04/02/2016

18/02/2016

Richmond

02/02/2016

19/02/2016

Mpophomeni

05/02/2016

20/02/2016

Howick

03/02/2016

16/02/2016

2 Methodology

A drive test methodology was used to collect samples. TEMS Symphony benchmarking tool

was used to collect the data. This method provided an external indicative snapshot of an

operators network performance from the users point of view on the selected routes. The

drive test results represent a snapshot of the mobile service provider's network performance,

based on the specified routes during when the measurements were carried out.

2.1 Drive Tests Equipment

The Drive Testing methodology is basically collecting measurement data with drive test

equipment which comprises of: TEMS Symphony 7.7 with Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (SM-

N910F), laptop with Probe Controller 1.9 installed. However, drive tests only provide data

on the downlink side of the communication, it provides a perspective to the service provider

about whats happening from a subscribers point of view.

2.2 Test Plan

A test plan is displayed on Table 2 below: