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ICASA considers network monitoring upgrade

Bonnie Tubbs
By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 31 Mar 2015
ICASA may consider more in-depth, effective means of measuring network quality in future.
ICASA may consider more in-depth, effective means of measuring network quality in future.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) could consider a more in-depth mobile network monitoring method in future, but certain obstacles - including requisite authorisation and the cost factor - stand in its way.

ICASA's method of checking the service provided by cellphone companies has in the past been criticised by SA's operators, which have questioned the authority's methodology, which currently involves drive-testing.

Industry watchers have said the lack of capacity ICASA has for many years sat with ? as well as the lack of clarity on its methodology ? renders the regulator's quality of service (QOS) reports largely ineffective. ICASA has, in the past, conceded it lacks the resources it needs to effect its mandate to the best of its ability.

Existing obstacles

Last week, network management company CommProve announced "an African regulator" had enlisted its services to monitor the QOS of its mobile network operators, with a view to making the network information derived from detailed analysis publicly available.

The CommProve methodology involves exhaustive analysis of connections, by deploying the company's GSP solution at each of the operator sites. GSP is a performance management platform that captures statistical counters from across the monitored network. These may then be aggregated, calculated or correlated, providing operators with a dataset to manage and optimise their networks.

Darren Harding, CommProve VP of sales for MEA, says the system is set to go live "in the next few months". He is not at liberty to divulge the said African regulator at this stage. The company currently works with Vodacom and Cell C in SA, and Safaricom in Kenya.

Charter definitions:

According to the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter, mobile operators (as well as other ECNS licensees) face fines for poor network standards.

The drafted regulations require licensees to maintain an average of 90% fault clearance rate for all faults reported within three days, while the remaining 10% of faults reported must be cleared within six days of the fault having been reported.

ICASA defines QOS as the collective effect of service performances which determine 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, complete through to a normal call tear down process, without abnormally disconnecting on a cell site of interest.

"Accessibility is defined as the percentage of time a user is rejected due to the unavailability of system resources when attempting to place a call."

ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka says the authority does not currently have a network monitoring exercise on the go with CommProve, but says it is something it might consider in future.

He says, however, ICASA would need enabling regulations that will allow the regulator to connect its probes (server and monitoring software) on the operator's live network, in order to get the statistical performance in real-time.

Another consideration, he says, is data security. "At the moment, the proposed system involves collecting raw or data records of the networks' performances and storing them on a server in the operator's premises, and it later pushes the data to the server which might be installed at ICASA.

"The data would therefore be transmitted by some dedicated links. So data might get manipulated before it is forwarded to ICASA."

The system is also very expensive, says Maleka.

Work in progress

The industry has called for further improvement and clarity around ICASA's methods to the end of enabling the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter, a regulation that aims to ensure end-users and subscribers are provided high-quality services by licensees at all times.

In July last year, ICASA decided to forego public hearings that were planned around March submissions on a draft review of the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter by interested parties.

Instead, the authority opted to hold a workshop with interested stakeholders on the basis that this "is likely to better achieve the objectives of effective consumer protection".

Operators questioned the methodology and technical aspects of ICASA's testing, with Cell C noting difficulties to determine the accuracy of the results in the "absence of an industry-recognised testing methodology".

MTN and Vodacom noted they support ICASA in refining the testing process in conjunction with the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS). Owner of Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions Dominic Cull notes "a great deal of work" has since been done within one of the SABS technical committees.

ICASA had not responded to queries around the draft review by the time of publication.

Still trying

ICASA has, on the other hand, been lauded for its attempts at improving the situation. But independent telecoms analyst Spiwe Chireka has noted that finalising the methodology in agreement with the operators is a vital step if the reports are to yield any tangible and positive results.

Despite the regulator's moves to improve on its monitoring methods, electronic communications law consultant Justine Limpitlaw says ICASA still needs to improve monitoring and enforcement - in both the broadcasting and telecoms sectors.

Harding says, typically a telecoms regulator has no way of determining the actual customer experience, or monitoring if the customer experience is improving or degrading. "This makes it very difficult to identify the quality of service the [mobile network operators'] subscribers are actually getting."

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