According to Quality of Service (QoS) test results released by the regulator Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Friday, none of the operators met all QoS criteria. However, Mobilink showed better results compared to other four operators, while the performance of Telenor, Ufone and Zong were similar to each other.
The regulator stated that results of the survey pushed the regulator to move ahead by development of KPIs for inclusion in Service Level Agreement (SLA) between LDIs and CMTOs. Essential parameters for IR billing format were also finalised, and a survey was carried out in the middle of 2011 to check the billing discrepancies Mobilink and Telenor met all billing requirements successfully.
Despite difficulties faced by operators due to power cuts (blackout/brownout), rising cost of fossil energy, cellular operators have been trying to maintain services at affordable cost. The regulator is of the opinion that due to lowering of Access Promotion Contribution (APC) and a little more effort in retaining the customer, cellular operators will succeed in meeting the criteria and appropriate billing format.
It is to be noted that regulators actively monitor QoS of operators to safeguard consumers’ interests. PTA also regularly conducts QoS survey of different services offered by its licensees but it is pertinent to mention here that PTA is the first known regulator in the world that has conducted a survey in order to check the QoS of International Roaming (IR) facility. The first survey was conducted in 2006 followed by the second phase in 2009 to figure IR QoS parameters and their benchmarking. On the basis of actual test results, recommendations of standardising bodies (GSMA, ITU, etc) and best international practices, following standards were developed to measure IR QoS.
