By ; Wael Elgafary

In light of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s “NTRA” efforts to enhance the quality of telecom services provided for users, the National Telecom Center for Monitoring Service Quality, subordinate to NTRA, issued its quality measurement report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 (from January to March 2024).

Measurement methodology entailed conducting quality-measuring tests on samples of voice calls and data services to determine the quality of telecom services provided for users within Egypt’s market. To this end, measuring equipment and vehicles were used for distances of 142 thousand kilometers, across major and sub roads of urban and rural areas, during first quarter of 2024.

Report findings were based on measuring the Key Performance Indicators of voice and data services as follow:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of voice service:

• Call-Blocked Rate: Rate of unsuccessful attempts to start a phone call, out of the overall sample during a specific period of time.

• Call-Dropped Rate: Rate of disconnected phone calls for technical issues before being ended by either side, out of the overall sample during a specific period of time. 

• Call Access Time: Rate of calls requiring a long time or taking long seconds, from the time the dial button is pressed until a ring is heard by the other side, out of the overall sample during a specific period of time.

• Voice Quality Rate: Level of voice purity during phone calls for measurement samples within a specific period of time.

Data service KPIs:

• Average http Download Throughput: Minimum download speed monitored for the lowest 10% of sample.

• Average http Upload Throughput: Minimum upload speed monitored for the lowest 10% of sample.

Below is the total number of cities and districts where voice quality issues were monitored in March 2024 compared to January 2024:

• Vodafone: Out of 114 cities and districts, the total number of areas having poor quality indicators with respect to voice service reached 23 during March 2024 to mark an improvement, compared to 30 areas in January 2024.

• Orange: Out of 114 cities and districts, the total number of areas having poor quality indicators with respect to voice service reached 27 during March 2024 to mark an improvement, compared to 29 areas in January 2024.

• Etisalat: Out of 114 cities and districts, the total number of areas having poor quality indicators with respect to voice service came up to 17 during March 2024 to mark an improvement, in comparison to 19 areas in January 2024.

• WE: Out of 114 cities and districts, the total number of areas having poor quality indicators with respect to voice service reached 35 during March 2024 to mark an improvement, in comparison to 48 areas in January 2024.

Below is the total number of cities and districts where data quality issues were monitored in March 2024, compared to January 2024:

• Vodafone: Out of 114 cities and districts, the number of areas suffering poor data transfer services improved during March 2024 to reach 2, compared to 4 areas in January 2024. 

• Orange: Out of 114 cities and districts, the number of areas suffering poor data transfer services remained stable at 2 during March and January 2024.

• Etisalat: Out of 114 cities and districts, the number of areas suffering poor data transfer services remained stable at 3 during March and January 2024.

• WE: Out of 114 cities and districts, no areas suffering poor data transfer services were monitored during 2024-Q1.

Measures taken by NTRA to improve service quality for users:

1. Fines of EGP 33 million were imposed on mobile operators during 2024-Q1

NTRA imposed fines of EGP 33 million on mobile operators for trespassing the parameters of mobile service quality during 2024-Q1.

2. New 743 cell sites were approved during 2024-Q1

NTRA approved the deployment of new 743 cell sites in Q1-2024, by an increase of 7%, in comparison to same period of 2023, which would contribute to enhancing coverage and improve telecom service quality in Egypt’s market.

3. Campaigns were executed nationwide to remove illegal repeaters and improve service quality

NTRA intensively executed campaigns across the whole nation to remove unauthorized repeaters which harm the quality of telecom services, where 705 illegal devices were removed during 2024-Q1.

4. Voice and data-transfer services were provided in the villages and underserved areas targeted by “Haya Karima” Initiative

NTRA provided voice and data coverage via mobile networks for 63 villages enlisted within the first phase of “Haya Karima”, as well as 11 underserved areas and 7 roads during 2024-Q1.