Workshop on “Monitoring Quality of
Service and Quality of Experience of Multimedia
Services in Broadband/Internet Networks”
(Maputo, Mozambique, 14-16 April 2014)
Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice
Joachim Pomy
Consultant@joachimpomy.de
OPTICOM, Germany
Version : 11 December 2008
[Content]
ITRs: Setting the stage for
a connected world
 Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice





Introduction
Setting up a National Transmission Plan
QoS for International Connections
Multi-Vendor Environment
Hot Topic: Study on Broadband Access Speed
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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Regulatory approaches
Regulation
orientated
Customer
orientated
Reporting
To regulator
To customer
Targets
In regulations
In contracts
Penalties
Fines
Compensation
…or a combination?
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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QoS regulations
 Measurement and reporting are expensive
 Do you scratch everywhere? or scratch
where it itches?
 Need to focus on the known problem
areas
 But the problem areas may change over
time
 Issue of cost effectiveness
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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Service Level Agreements
 Considered highly important
 Indication of the level that the supplier aims to




achieve
Only tangible benefit if there is compensation
for failure
Is the compensation a token or a rebalancing of
the failure
A token at least imposes some incentive to
perform
Tokens are noticed by management
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
5
Criteria for QoS Parameters
 QoS parameters should be easily understood by the public, and be useful




and important to them.
All parameters are applicable at the network termination point. Where
measurements are possible, they should be made on the customer's
premises, using in-service lines. To be as realistic as possible, real traffic
rather than test calls should be used as a basis of the measurements,
wherever possible.
Parameters should be capable of verification by independent organizations.
This verification might be made by direct measurements or by audit of the
operator's measurements.
The accuracy of QoS parameter values should be set to a level consistent
with cost effectively available measurement methods.
The parameters are designed for both statistical and individual application.
The statistical values should be derived by the application of a simple
statistical function to the individual values. The statistical function should be
specified in the standard. The standard should also contain guidelines on
how statistically significant samples should be selected.
From ETNO: European incumbent’s club
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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Regulation and Customer Compensation
 Initial levels of compensation should be low
 Any such payments will be monitored by management of operators
 Experience is that the benefit in alerting management to problems far
exceeds the value of the sums paid as they expose mangers to internal
criticism
 However for critical parameters that have a seriously damaging
effect on customers
 Levels of compensation should rise depending on the extent on the
problem with higher payments to business customers than to residential
ones
 For example failure to repair a fault within a specified time would incur a
penalty of say $X per day
 this rate should not be capped at a maximum of say 5 days but continue
 possibly rate per day should rise if the time exceeds say 10 days
 This formulation is needed to ensure that the managers concerned take
appropriate steps to resolve the issues and prepare adequately for the
problems that inevitably will occur.
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Regulatory Aspects (1)
 QoS parameters for Regulation should be
Limited in number
Focus to hot topics
 where problems already exist or expected to occur soon
Taylored to the special situation in the Region
 different topics for each country
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Regulatory Aspects (2)
 Network operators but also customers have experience
 with regulation & resulting QoS in other countries of the
region
 For National Regulators it is important to prove
 customized regulation regime
 but no re-invention of the wheel
 no over burdening of operators
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Best Practice
 Some Advantages (postulated)
 QoS Regulation not needed
 Market Powers regulate overall Quality
 Some Requirements (obvious)
 All Stakeholders Stick to Standards
 Appropriate Standards are available in Time
 QoS Responsibilities must be clear defined
 Some Problems (surprise !)
 „connect your fridge to the network – it might be legal“
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Market Mechanisms
 Forces of the Market will bring users into a position where they can obtain the endto-end QoS they wish to perceive
 Has been postulated for a long time in Europe
 Has been proven to be more than questionable
 Mostly, contracts between users and network operators
 have a longterm binding character
 do not contain any QoS provisions
 Currently, traditional Telcos have no incentive to provide high end-to-end QoS for
their NGN customers
 Number of customers remains stable
 In parallel the commercial company value
 In contrast are Internet based communication service providers
 Receive their revenue not directly from users
 But by other business models which rely on a high (and increasing) number of users of the
service every day
 Customers not satisfied with end-to-end QoS will stop using the service
 Consequently the number of customers decreases immediately and so the company value
 Thus the incentive to offer high end-to-end QoS to the user is extremely high.
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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[Content]
ITRs: Setting the stage for
a connected world
 Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice





Introduction
Setting up a National Transmission Plan
QoS for International Connections
Multi-Vendor Environment
Hot Topic: Study on Broadband Access Speed
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
13
Pre-Requisites for a National Transmission Plan
 Definition of Network Structure & Topology
 Definition of Desired End-to-End QoS
 Absolute Minimum
 Average over Usage/Regions/Calendar Time
 Specification of QoS & NP Parameters
 End-to-End
 For each Network Element & Terminals
 Selection of Reference Connections
 Typical Connections (High # of Occurence)
 Complex Connections (QoS Problems expected)
 Legal Regulatory Framework
 To enforce Requirements
 To strengthen Customers‘ Rights
 To solve issues in Cases of not achieved QoS
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Transmission Planning in Europe (1)
 Historically, separate national transmission plan have been enforced and
utilized in European countries:
 National transmission plans based on ITU-T (CCITT) Recommendations
 Inter-Country, intra-European telephony connections ruled by
 The International transmission plan as per ITU-T Recommendations G.101, G.111
and G.121
 Regulatory Treatment of a Telephony Connection in Europe consists of two
parts:
 Regulation of the public network (through the Directives on an Open Network
Provision) and
 Regulation of the terminal market (through a “Terminal Directive")
 Both of these regulations are undergoing changes with the effect that national
regulatory authorities do not intervene where quality is ensured through
effective competition
 The new directive for Radio equipment and Telecommunications Terminal
Equipment (the "R&TTE" directive) includes a possibility for the Commission
to issue regulation regarding voice performance.
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Transmission Planning in Europe (2)
 As long as the market actors behave in a responsible
manner, there will be no EU regulation of voice
performance of customer premises equipment
connected to a public network
 For the telecommunications industry it is however of
value to arrive at a common transmission plan for
future networks, to ensure successful global
communications
 Pan-European Loss Plan has been developed
 ETSI ES202020 harmonized with TIA
 To assist manufacturers in achieving satisfactory voice
performance
 Not a regulatory requirement
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[Content]
ITRs: Setting the stage for
a connected world
 Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice





Introduction
Setting up a National Transmission Plan
QoS for International Connections
Multi-Vendor Environment
Hot Topic: Study on Broadband Access Speed
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
17
National Transmission Plan
Part of International Connection
ITU-T G.101
Sure ??
Defined by National
Transmission Plan
Defined by ???
International Switching
Centres (ISCs)
b
a
t
t
a
National system
b
International chain
National system
T1204G.101_FI.1
Exchange
ISC that carries international transit traffic
a, b
Virtual International Connecting Points
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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[Content]
ITRs: Setting the stage for
a connected world
 Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice





Introduction
Setting up a National Transmission Plan
QoS for International Connections
Multi-Vendor Environment
Hot Topic: Study on Broadband Access Speed
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
19
National Transmission Plan
On-Net Connections
 Single Vendor’s Technology Implementation
Has Potential to deliver homogeneous QoS
Tends to be easy controllable
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National Transmission Plan
Multi-Vendor Inter-Connections
 Multiple Vendor’s Technology Implementations
 Has Potential to deliver QoS-Problems
 Tends to be less controllable
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National Transmission Plan
International Connections
 Connection to other Jurisdictions
 Plus Multiple Vendors in National Network
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Some Conclusions ...
 Focus on User perceived Parameters
users do not understand network specific KPIs
 End-to-end QoS is different
On-net vs. Off-net
National vs. International
 On the other hand
User trend to global communication
Especially for data services like YouTube
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
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[Content]
ITRs: Setting the stage for
a connected world
 Regulatory Approaches & Best Practice





Introduction
Setting up a National Transmission Plan
QoS for International Connections
Multi-Vendor Environment
Hot Topic: Study on Broadband Access Speed
Maputo - Mozambique - 14 - 16 April 2014
24
HOT TOPIC
 Selected Results
Fixed & Mobile Broadband Access
Study
Germany
 Related Activities
Austria
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Hot Topic
 Results from Study on Broadband Access Speed
Initiated by German Regulator
Carried out by independant test house
Results for both Mobile & DSL access

http://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/B
reitband/Qualitaetsstudie/AbschlussberichtQualitaetsstudie.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1
English Version planned
Following is a Summary of Results for Mobile Access
 Categorized by Ranges of Advertised Bandwidth
 Bar graphs by Location (Major cities in Germany)
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Average Mobile Download Speed
Depicted as Percentage of the Advertised Speed
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Average Mobile Upload Speed
Depicted as Percentage of the Advertised Speed
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Average Mobile Download Time for Web Sites
For Alexa Top 10 Web Sites in Germany
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Initial Conclusions
 Conclusion of the German Regulator:
 Quality extremely fluctuating and not predictable
 An global average quality value across one mobile network
has no meaning for the customer
 (e.g. average UMTS download speed for T-Mobile across Germany =
3 Mbit/s)
 Customer wants to know quality at current location
 High resolution required for measurements to be of any use
for customer
 Measurements of quality anddisplay of results must always
reference Time and Location
 Averaging across entire infrastructures not permitted
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Compare LTE with other Technologies
Achieved Percentage of Advertised Speed
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Examples of Drive Tests
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Future Work
 Development of a measurement methodology for broadband
access speed
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measurement will be done by customers
creation of a public data base across all providers
enable customers to know the quality before signing the contract
enable customers to check the contracted quality
 Consequences for Mobile Operators:
 make your own drive test with very high granularity "postal code level"
or
 make software measurement on your customers' phones
 Approach via customers' phones requires huge data base
 On average results per location will "true values"
 Software must account for terminal aspect in intelligent manner
 Currently under development by German Regulator
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... Others have the same Approach
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© Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR-GmbH)
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Links
 The Austrian Regulator already started
measurement campaign based measurements
from customers' phone
 Currently in Beta test phase: https://www.netztest.at/en/
 Results on interactive map: https://www.netztest.at/en/Karte
 Technical Parameters:
https://www.rtr.at/en/rtr/netztestfaq_technik#c25808
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Any questions
?
Contact:
Consultant@joachimpomy.de
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